Author: Mideast discourse

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator Yesterday, Muqtada al-Sadr urged his supporters to continue protests at the Iraqi parliament in Baghdad.  The Muslim cleric has a large support base who demand the dissolution of parliament and a call for early elections. Iraq has been suffering under a political stalemate that has prevented an elected government for almost 10 months. Thousands of protesters entered and occupied the parliament which sits within the Green Zone last weekend. The move was in response to attempts by a rival political faction to form a government with prime ministerial candidates unacceptable to Sadr and his…

Israel is preparing for any scenario and will act if necessary against any organization that threatens the security of Israeli citizens The Israel Defense Forces command made the decision on Thursday to send additional units to the Gaza border area to enhance the units’ combat readiness in case of a possible attack by radical forces, the army press service reported. After situation assessment, the decision was taken to beef up Gaza Division (stationed near the border with the strip – TASS) with additional units in order to enhance combat readiness, it said. According to Israel’s Kan Radio, artillery and engineering…

Moscow is assessing the possibility that a Washington DC agency played a part in the creation of Covid-19 Russia’s Defense Ministry says it’s investigating the possible role of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in the creation of the Covid-19 virus. In a press briefing on Thursday, the head of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces, Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov, claimed that US-backed bio-laboratories in Ukraine had been conducting questionable research and clinical tests on Ukrainian citizens, and that “over 16,000 biological samples, including blood and serum samples, were exported from the territory of Ukraine to US and European countries.”…

Moscow has called on Azerbaijan and Armenia to exercise restraint and comply with the ceasefire regime in Nagorno-Karabakh in the wake of a deadly exchange between the two in the disputed region. Azerbaijan accused Armenian forces of attacking its military positions in the Lachin corridor area, which is under the supervision of the Russian peacekeeping force, and killing one of its soldiers on August 3. On the very same day, the Azerbaijani military attacked Armenian military positions on the northwestern part of the frontline in Nagorno-Karabakh with artillery and combat drones, killing two Armenian soldiers and wounding 14 others. The exchange defined…

Iraqi prominent Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for dissolving the parliament and holding early elections, urging his followers to continue their open sit-in in the parliament building until their demands are met. “Most of the Iraqi people are tired of the ruling class, including some faces of the Sadrist Movement,” al-Sadr said in a televised speech. “The revolution (protests for comprehensive reform) began by the Sadrist, and it will not exclude the corrupters from the Sadrist Movement,” al-Sadr said. “I am not asking for power, but I am seeking reform,” the Shiite cleric concluded. On Saturday, thousands of al-Sadr’s followers…

Early on August 4, an officer of the Syrian Military Intelligence Directorate (MID) was killed and another was wounded as a result of a cross-border attack from Lebanon. The two officers were manning a checkpoint in the town of al-Mushrefa, which is located right on the border line between Syria and Lebanon, when an gunman from the Lebanese side attacked them with a hand grenade. Lebanese news sources said that the attack took place following an attempt by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) to arrest two local smugglers wanted by both Syrian and Lebanese authorities. One of the smugglers was…

The group says it’s unable to confirm the death of Ayman al-Zawahiri The Taliban government in Afghanistan stated on Wednesday that it still has no information on the fate of Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was allegedly killed in a US drone strike in Kabul over the weekend. While the Taliban has not been able to confirm the terrorist leader’s death, Abdul Salam Hanafi, the second deputy Taliban prime minister, condemned Washington’s strike, arguing that it violated Afghanistan’s “sovereignty, international laws and the Doha agreement,” referring to a 2020 deal between the Taliban and Washington which required US-led foreign troops to…

Ukrainian military has lost up to 60 people over the past 24 hours in the Luhansk People’s Republic, LPR’s People’s Militia Spokesman Ivan Filiponenko said on Tuesday. “Over the past 24 hours, in the course of active offensive actions of the LPR People’s Militia units, the enemy suffered heavy losses in manpower and military equipment. Up to 60 personnel, six armored personnel carriers, three artillery pieces, and five units of special vehicle equipment were destroyed,” Tass quoted Filiponenko’s statement on his Telegram channel.  “LPR sappers cleared more than 6 hectares of territory from explosive objects left by Ukrainian nationalists in…

Chinese warplanes have been regularly entering Taiwan’s air defense identification zone during drills At least 21 Chinese warplanes entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone on Tuesday on the backdrop of US House Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei, Taiwan’s defense ministry reported. According to the ministry, the operation involved eight J-11 fighter jets, ten J-16 jets, a KJ-500 airborne warning and control system aircraft, and two Y-9 and Y-8 planes. They flew over the waters southwest of the island, with some of them approaching the so-called median line in the Taiwan Strait. An air defense identification zone is an…

On August 1, Armenia reported on the movement of Azerbaijani military units on the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh and shelling of Armenian positions. The Ministry of Defense of Artsakh (Nagorno—Karabakh) reported that the Azerbaijani Armed Forces fired at several villages in the republic at once. On August 1, starting at 9 am, Azerbaijani units resorted to provocations on a number of sections of the northern and northwestern borders of the Republic of Artsakh, attempting to cross the contact line, the ministry said in a statement. No losses on the Armenian side were reported. On July 31, Azerbaijan accused Armenia…