Author: Mideast discourse

A security official said on Saturday that at least 12 people have been killed in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu after al Qaeda-linked militants attacked a hotel, seized hostages. “The security forces continued to neutralise terrorists who have been cordoned inside a room in the Hayat Hotel building, most of the people were rescued,” said the official. The gunmen were holding an unknown number of hostages on the facility’s second floor, Mohammed Abdikadir said, preventing authorities from using heavy weapons. He said they had also bombed the stairs to make it harder to access specific floors. Somalia’s al Shabaab insurgents have claimed responsibility. …

A Turkish Unmanned Aerial Vehicle targets an alleged PKK site near Erbil in the Iraqi Kurdistan region. Al Mayadeen correspondent in Baghdad reported Saturday that a Turkish drone targeted Sidekan in Soran District, Erbil Governorate, northern Iraq. Similarly, Iraqi media sources reported that a Turkish Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) targeted Saturday morning a site belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) near Erbil in the Iraqi Kurdistan region, Erbil. Shafaq News Agency cited a source as saying that “the Turkish aerial bombardment targeted a fortified area of the PKK in Soran’s Sidekan sub-district.” “The size of the damages was not immediately clear,”…

Palestinians held in Israeli prisons plan to launch an open-ended mass hunger strike in protest against the Israeli regime’s repressive measures. This is according to the rights group Palestinian Prisoners’ Club (PPC). Quoting the Supreme National Emergency Committee for Palestinian Prisoners, it said in a statement on Saturday that several inmates will begin a hunger strike on Monday and Wednesday, before launching a mass strike in all Israeli jails, the Palestinian Information Center reported. As an initial step, the prisoners will refuse to go out for security inspections during this week, the statement said, adding that the inmates seek to…

A car bomb, with an explosive device, exploded in al-Wusta neighborhood in Qamishli, causing only material damage. “The car went off on Friday evening while parking near a supermarket, and no one was inside,” SANA reporter said. The reporter added that the explosion caused material damage to the place. No information about any casualties. Source: SANA

On August 20, a UAV hit the roof of the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet in the city of Sevastopol. It is the second drone attack on the facility. The city governor assured that there were no victims and no serious damage to the building. Ukraine was blamed for the attack. Russian forces attempted to intercept the drone with small arms. According to the governor, the UAV was hit right above the fleet headquarters. As a result, it fell on the roof and caught fire. The police blocked the approaches and entrances to the fleet headquarters. The governor advised…

Over 100 fighters including foreign ‘mercenaries’ were killed in airstrike in Kharkov Region, the Russian Defense Ministry claims US nationals were among the foreign fighters killed in high-precision Russian airstrikes on nationalists’ combat positions in Kharkov Region in northeastern Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed at its daily briefing on Saturday. Ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov said Russian aircraft had struck “the positions of the nationalist unit Kraken and the units of foreign mercenaries” near the village of Andreyevka. “More than 100 militants were killed, including up to 20 American mercenaries,” Konashenkov stated. He added that the Russian forces hit…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator On August 16, 2022, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported that the US occupation forces have stolen 398 tankers full of Syrian oil in one week and transported the stolen oil to US bases in Iraq using an illegal route. The US forces who invaded in 2014 are in control of the main oil and gas fields in Hasakah and Deir Ez Zor, and they are assisted by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who were US partners in the fight to eliminate ISIS. Previously, it was ISIS who stole the oil and sold it…

Moscow says the execution of soldiers who abandoned their positions was meant to intimidate other Ukrainian fighters Some 100 Ukrainian soldiers have been executed by nationalist fighters from the “Kraken” regiment for abandoning their positions, Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed in a daily briefing on Friday. After Russian forces carried out an assault on Ukraine’s 58th motorized infantry brigade on August 14 near the settlement of Udy in the Kharkov region, the remnants of the formation fled their positions and retreated, ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said. In order to “suppress panic and intimidate the personnel of the Armed forces…

On August 19, at least 14 people were killed and 42 others were wounded as a result of a rocket attack that targeted the Turkish-occupied town of al-Bab in northern Syria. A salvo of rockets struck a busy market in the town’s center just a few hours before Friday prayers. The rockets were allegedly launched from a strip of land to the southwest of the town, which is jointly held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian Arab Army (SAA). Al-Bab, one of the largest urban centers in the northern countryside of Aleppo, is the main stronghold of…

Apple releases security patches to fix a vulnerability that hackers may be taking advantage of. Apple is warning of a flaw that is allowing hackers to seize control of iPhones, iPads, and Mac computers and is urging users to install emergency software updates. Patches were released Thursday and Wednesday by the tech titan to fix what it described as a vulnerability hackers already knew about and may be taking advantage of. “Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited,” the Silicon Valley-based company said. Apple did not disclose whether it had information regarding the extent to…