Turkey is facing mounting pressure from its NATO allies in the Eastern Mediterranean region which makes its decision to deploy and operate the Russian-made S-400 Triumf anti-aircraft weapon system fully justified, says Ret. Major General Nejat Eslen commenting on Athens' alleged plan to acquire fifth-generation F-35 stealth jets in 2021. On 16 November, Greek weekly newspaper Proto Thema [...]

Israel occupied and annexed about 1,200 square km of Syria’s strategic Golan Heights in the aftermath of the Six Day War of June 1967. The United Nations condemned the move as “null and void and without international legal effect”. Damascus has vowed to get its territory back one day "by any means necessary". China and the Group of 77 bloc of developing nations has called on Israel [...]

The boss of one of Israel’s largest hospitals has placed a huge order for Russia’s Sputnik-V coronavirus vaccine, arguing that concerns over the formula are due to tensions between Moscow and Washington, rather than safety issues. Zeev Rotstein, director of Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Centre believes Western objections are more political than scientific, telling Israeli newspaper Haare [...]

Turkey is not a “tribal state” that can be pushed around, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said, dismissing the American warnings over its procurement of Russian-made S-400 anti-aircraft systems. Ankara will see through the deployment of its S-400 systems, which will not be disrupted by any threats or sanctions, Erdogan made clear, speaking in the eastern Turkish city of Malatya on Sunday. T [...]

The US State Department has warned the Turkish government of “potential serious consequences” to the two nations’ security relationship should reports of Ankara testing the Russian S-400 air defense systems prove true. “If confirmed, we would condemn in the strongest terms the S-400 test missile launch as incompatible with Turkey’s responsibilities as a NATO ally and strategic partn [...]

Iran will become free to sell and buy weapons starting Sunday as the UN arms embargo will be terminated under the 2015 nuclear deal despite the active resistance from the United States, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday. "This 10-year oppressive embargo will be lifted on Sunday, 18 October, with people’s resistance and the efforts of our country's diplomats, despite 4 yea [...]

Five years ago Russia became involved in the Syrian civil war, prompting an abrupt U-turn in the situation on the ground and ending the spread of Islamist terrorism in the country. Middle East expert Ghassan Kadi and Syrian journalist Basma Qaddour have taken a look at the Russo-Syrian strategic partnership's achievements and plans. On 30 September 2015, Russia started an air operation ag [...]

According to the hacktivist collective, the files provide, for the first time, “a detailed map” on the British intelligence services’ clandestine operations in Syria to fund, arm and provide a sanitized, publicly acceptable media voice to an array of opposition militants and jihadists seeking to topple the Assad government. Anonymous, the international hacking group behind the 2018 [...]

On Tuesday, it was reported that Turkey had deployed its S-400 air defense systems to the northern city of Samsun near the Black Sea, probably for testing, with Ankara making no official statement on the matter. The US State Department has expressed alarm over reports about possible tests by Turkey of its Russian-made S-400 missile systems. [...]

Prime Minister Designate Mustapha Adib announced that he would be stepping down on Saturday, saying Lebanon’s political factions “failed to refuse to politicize the process of forming a government.” Adib was appointed in August, after Prime Minister Hassan Diab resigned in the turmoil following the Beirut explosion, which killed nearly 200 people. Prime Minister designate Adib’s s [...]

A draft of an economic and security deal between the People's Republic of China and the Islamic Republic of Iran previously leaked by The New York Times is continuing to reverberate in the international media. Iranian political analyst Mahan Abedin has explained the fuss over the accords and shed light on Iran's strategic shift towards the East. The 18-page Persian-language document envis [...]

Aleksandar Vucic's reaction to Donald Trump's announcement that Belgrade will move its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem next July made some people wonder if the news had come as a surprise to the Serbian leader. Vucic visited Washington this week to sign a US-brokered deal with Avdullah Hoti, prime minister of the breakaway Serbian region of Kosovo. The agreement was touted as a great diplomatic succe [...]

Israeli authorities escalated demolitions in occupied East Jerusalem in August, knocking 51 Palestinian buildings and displacing 85 people, many of whom were children, a Palestinian rights group said. The demolition of homes, which Israel says were built without proper permits, have been conducted in an "unprecedented manner" in the past month, Palestinian rights group, Wadi Hilweh Information [...]

The US assassination of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in early January exacerbated the already tense relations between Tehran and Washington in place since the Trump administration's unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in 2018. Deputy director-general of the Russian research centre Rezonans Alexander Stuchilin has argued that a radar system produced by his company [...]

During a recent meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi US President Donald Trump suggested that most American servicemen will be "leaving [the country] shortly" but failed to give a definitive timeline. Several groups within Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU) have threatened to attack US positions in the country should its leadership not negotiate a withdrawal of its tr [...]

On 4 August, a massive explosion took place in Beirut, killing over 200 people and decimating the city's infrastructure. The massive blast was caused by improper storage of explosive ammonium nitrate in the Beirut port. Sputnik is live from Beirut as the Lebanese capital, devastated by an explosion in early August, has re-imposed a lockdown amid a surge in COVID-19 cases. The new measu [...]

The US ambassador to the United Nations has described the lack of support from Washington’s allies in Europe as “disappointing,” after the US attempted to restore UN sanctions against Tehran. “This matter is so important that we cannot wait until the arms embargo [against Iran] runs out on October 18,” Kelly Craft, US envoy to the UN, told German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung in an intervi [...]

Lebanon's government stepped down on Monday night in the aftermath of a deadly blast that shattered the country's capital on 4 August and claimed the lives of more than 200 people. International observers have discussed whether the Diab cabinet’s resignation will help fix the situation and what forces could take the reins. The tragedy reignited nationwide anti-government protests, with [...]

The explosion that devastated Beirut has been linked to a mishandled ammonium nitrate cargo confiscated from a foreign ship. Now a former crew member tells RT the vessel, owned by a dodgy businessman, was a disaster in the making. Some 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate – a highly explosive fertilizer – went up in a terrifying blast in Beirut on Tuesday, Lebanese officials have said. [...]