Tag: Region Middle East

Some of Turkey’s largest airport ground handler firms stopped providing services to western-made aircraft owned by Russian airlines earlier this month, multiple sources told Middle East Eye.  The sources, who are within the aviation industry and are familiar with the issue, said Havas, Turkey’s largest ground service provider, as well as Turkish Ground Services (TGS), stopped serving the US-made Boeing and European Airbus aircraft…

The US on Wednesday slapped sanctions on several entities based in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates which it said had violated US export controls and helped Russia’s war effort in Ukraine. The firms were included in a new list of sanctions rolled out by the US Treasury Department against more than 120 targets across over 20 countries and jurisdictions….

Western media seems to be actively trying to create an “information tsunami” about the topic, according to Pushilin, who suggested it could mean the leaks may have been deliberate.

“Who knows, this could be the preparation of the global community for a possible reduction in support for Ukraine on the eve of the highly publicized counteroffensive by the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” Pushilin wrote. He also said, however, that regardless of the content of the leaked documents or the true intentions of the West, Russia’s task is to continue working and not respond to provocations.

Thousands of Israelis, including ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government, marched to an evacuated Jewish outpost in the West Bank on Monday in support of settlements viewed as illegal under international law. As tensions mounted between Israelis and Palestinians, Israelis from across the country travelled to the outpost of Evyatar while waving Israeli flags and chanting religious songs…

Germans appear to be particularly susceptible to what Bild described as Moscow’s “propaganda,” the newspaper said, adding that experts in the West are “alarmed” over this development. The tabloid then blamed this tendency on the “historically friendly relations” between the two nations, as well as the “legacy” of East Germany, which was once a part of the “socialist camp” and “a large number of Russian-speaking people” living in Germany nowadays. The paper then admitted that pro-Russian views have been spreading both among native Germans and the Russian-speaking part of the population.

Russian airline Aeroflot [Russian Airlines] has sent its aircraft to Iran for repairs for the first time in its history amid Western sanctions.

Source: Kremlin-aligned news outlet RBC, citing two sources close to the airline

“An Airbus A330-300 wide-body airliner with registration number RA-73700 flew to Tehran on 5 April, where the aircraft will be serviced by technicians from Mahan Air, i.e., Iran’s largest airline,” the statement said.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. Navy has deployed a guided-missile submarine capable of carrying up to 154 Tomahawk missiles to the Middle East, a spokesman said Saturday, in what appeared to be a show of force toward Iran following recent tensions.

The Navy rarely acknowledges the location or deployment of submarines. Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins, a spokesman for the 5th Fleet based in the Gulf nation of Bahrain, declined to comment on the submarine’s mission or what had prompted the deployment.

He said the nuclear-powered submarine, based out of Kings Bay, Georgia, passed through the Suez Canal on Friday. “It is capable of carrying up to 154 Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles and is deployed to U.S. 5th Fleet to help ensure regional maritime security and stability,” Hawkins said.

Four women and 10 children have been repatriated by Canada from detention camps for foreign fighters and their families in northeastern Syria. It was the fourth repatriation operation conducted by the Canadian government of its nationals held in camps in Syria for foreigners accused of being associated with the armed group ISIL (ISIS). Three of the women were arrested in Montreal at the airport before appearing in court on a “terrorism peace bond application” – a type of restraining order, Canadian police said in a statement on Friday.

One, an unidentified 38-year-old woman, was transported to Alberta province in western Canada and released on bail pending a hearing on the conditions of her status. “This is not a criminal charge,” her lawyer Lawrence Greenspon told AFP news agency, adding the prosecutor will want to “ensure that the person follows the conditions for a period of up to one year.”

The other two, Ammara Amjad and Dure Ahmed, “will remain in custody until their next hearing, which is scheduled for Tuesday”, police said. “Everything was good” regarding the fourth woman, said Greenspon, who is representing all four women. She faces neither criminal charges nor a request for a peace bond.

“The 10 children are repatriated and are with their families here in Canada,” said Greenspon. It remains unclear whether any of those being repatriated could face prosecution for alleged involvement with the armed group.

Excerpt: Saudi Arabia and other major oil producers on Sunday announced surprise cuts totaling 1.15 million barrels per day from May until the end of the year, a move that could raise prices worldwide.

Higher oil prices would help fill Russian President Vladimir Putin’s coffers as his country wages war on Ukraine and force Americans and others to pay even more at the pump amid inflation fueled in part by that conflict.

It was also likely to further strain ties with the United States, which has called on Saudi Arabia and other allies to increase production as it tries to bring prices down and squeeze Russia’s finances.

The Saudi Energy Ministry said its own reduction of 500,000 barrels per day would be made in coordination with some OPEC and non-OPEC members, without naming them. The cuts are in addition to a reduction announced last October that infuriated the Biden administration.

The United Arab Emirates’ central bank on Friday said it will cancel the licence it granted last year to Russia’s MTS bank, which was placed under British and US sanctions in February.

Operations at the bank’s UAE branch, which is licensed in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, will be wound down within six months under UAE central bank supervision.

A statement from MTS Bank said it will fulfil all settlement obligations to existing customers and guarantee the safety of their funds for six months.

“This decision comes after considering the available options regarding the new status of the MTS Bank and taking into account the sanctions risks associated with the bank,” the UAE central bank’s statement said.

Retaliatory U.S. airstrikes in Syria targeting Iran-backed militants last week killed eight fighters, the Pentagon said Thursday.

The fighters were killed when two U.S. F-15E fighter jets struck facilities operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) near Deir ez-Zor province in the eastern part of the country, according to Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder.

Though they were associated with the IRGC, the militants killed were not Iranian, Ryder told reporters.

The U.S. strikes were in retaliation for a drone attack last week at a Syria base that housed American personnel. One U.S. contractor was killed and another was injured along with five service members.

“Two weeks we fought with Facebook to restore the suspended page of RT Arabic, with 17 million subscribers,” Manna said on her Telegram channel. “We tried to get an explanation of what triggered the shutdown, because we never got any strikes or comments.” After several awkward non-explanations, Facebook’s customer service “simply wished us luck, closed our case, and turned over the URL to another user,” Manna wrote. “Internet democracy in all its glory!” Facebook blocked the page on March 15, without any explanation or advance warning. Attempts to access the page resulted in the message, “this content isn’t available right now.”

Speaking to journalists via conference call, Peskov was asked to comment on the arrest of the American citizen and whether Russia will cooperate with US security services on the issue. The spokesperson stated that he was not aware of the details of the case and that the matter remains in the hands of the FSB.   However, Peskov claimed that as far as he was aware, Gershkovich had been caught in the act of trying to collect intelligence about a defense facility, in violation of Russian laws on state secrets, as announced by the FSB. The correspondent, who covers news from Russia, Ukraine, and the former USSR, could face between 10 and 20 years in prison if charged with espionage.  Although Gershkovich had obtained the necessary journalistic credentials from the Foreign Ministry to work in Russia, the FSB alleges that he “acted in the interest of the US government” when he was caught during “an attempt to receive” classified intelligence. 

Asked if the incident could provoke a response from US authorities regarding Russian journalists working in America, Peskov said that Moscow hopes no such retaliation will follow because “we are not talking about allegations here. He was caught in the act.”  The WSJ has reacted to the incident by stating that it is “deeply concerned for the safety of Mr Gershkovich.”  Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has said that the issue of potentially exchanging the WSJ journalist in a swap deal has not been raised.   Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has claimed that whatever Gershkovich was doing when he was detained by the FSB, it had “nothing to do with journalism.” She argued that the status of correspondent had previously been used as cover by other Western nationals attempting to obtain classified Russian intelligence.

For decades, the major banks – along with AMP – dominated the financial planning landscape, employing or authorising the vast majority of licensed advisers. The remaining 16,000 providers – most of them independent or privately owned – are insufficient in number to meet the advice needs of the millions of Baby Boomers set to retire in coming years.

And the mountains of red tape the remaining advisers must comply with – thanks largely, it must be said, to the misdeeds of the bank-owned advice providers – have made their services too expensive for most families to afford even if they wanted to.

Israel launch a new spy satellite on Wednesday, the first the country has sent to space in nearly three years as it seeks to enhance its defense capabilities and prepare for a possible escalation with Iran.

An Israeli Shavit rocket delivered the Ofek-13 satellite to space, blasting off from the Palmachim Airbase on the Mediterranean coast at 7:10 p.m. ET, according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense. The ministry confirmed that the satellite entered its designated orbit and began transmitting data after completing an initial series of inspections. Ofek-13 still has to undergo a few more inspections before beginning its full operations “in the near future,” the defense ministry wrote.

Israel’s Ofek-13 satellite is the latest to join a series of reconnaissance satellites, the first of which launched in 1988. Its latest predecessor was the Ofek-16, which launched in July 2020. Israel’s defense ministry is claiming that Ofek-13 has the most advanced capabilities of the entire series with “unique radar observation capabilities, and will enable intelligence collection in any weather and conditions of visibility thus enhancing strategic intelligence,” Boaz Levy, CEO of state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, said in the ministry statement.