The first delivery of the Russian S-300 surface-to-air missile system has arrived in Iran, the country’s Foreign Ministry has announced. “We had already announced that despite several changes in the time of delivery, the deal is on its path of implementation and today I should announce that the first part of this equipment has arrived in Iran and delivery of other parts will continue,” Foreign... 

In sentiments that seem to echo one of the main policy aims of Donald Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he is working to surround the entire country with fences and barriers “to defend ourselves against wild beasts” that surround the Jewish state, reported the Israeli paper Haaretz. Netanyahu made the comments during a tour of a barrier being erected on the country’s eastern... 

The Daesh terrorist group (ISIS) has reportedly carried out a chemical attack on a Syrian military airport in eastern Syria. “The terrorists fired rockets carrying mustard gas” and targeting the airbase in the south of Dayr al-Zawr city, Syria’s Ikhbariyah television station said in a statement late Monday. The report did not disclose whether there were any casualties. Russia’s RIA Novosti,... 

Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhal Yosef has faced a public backlash after saying that according to Jewish law some non-Jews should be forbidden to live in Israel. “According to Jewish law, it’s forbidden for a non-Jew to live in the Land of Israel – unless he has accepted the seven Noahide laws,” Rabbi Yosef said during his weekly Saturday lecture on March 26. Non-Jews who fail to live by the... 

Saudi Arabia’s attempts to establish an anti-terrorist bloc similar to NATO can only make the international community laugh. Nobody in the world will take statements and actions of Saudi Arabia seriously, as this country has not fulfilled itself as a major player, Director of the Center for Strategic Situations, Ivan Konovalov told Pravda.Ru. “Everything that they say in Riyadh, is being... 

As part of a diversification strategy, Saudi Arabia is to broaden pilgrimage services to reduce its dependence on falling oil revenue, reported the Saudi Gazette newspaper. The pilgrimage industry is the country’s second most important after oil and gas. Nearly two million foreign pilgrims visit the holy city of Mecca annually during Hajj. The figure is expected to reach 2.7 million by 2020. National... 

The suicide bomber responsible for the attack in Istanbul on Saturday was identified as a Turkish-born man affiliated with the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorist group, the Turkish interior minister has said. The bomber was born in 1992 in the southern city of Gaziantep, Efkan Ala told the media on Sunday. He was identified by his DNA as Mehmet Öztürk and had no previous criminal record. He... 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu to start the withdrawal of forces from Syria starting Tuesday. Russia will however keep a military presence at the port of Tartus and at the Khmeimim airbase to observe ceasefire agreements. “I consider the objectives that have been set for the Defense Ministry to be generally accomplished. That is why I order to start withdrawal... 

The moment is around the corner when Saudi Arabia will face a massive budget deficit, an American political scientist said. “Saudi Arabia is running large budget deficits of 15 to 20 percent of GDP, and is drawing down on its currency reserves,” American political science professor James D. Savage told Iran’s Tasnim news agency. He added that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates... 

Erdogan’s Turkey this week diversified its rogue-state conduct from terror sponsorship to international bribery. The proceeds? Not bad earning, with $6.6 billion in “aid” extracted from the European Union. It’s supposed to be part of a groundbreaking deal to end the refugee crisis in Europe. But while EU politicians and bureaucrats throw billions of dollars to their Turkish “partner”,... 

Saudi Arabia has acknowledged that the US-led anti-ISIS coalition has held a “political” discussion about a potential ground troop deployment in Syria. Riyadh’s statements have been criticized by Damascus as destructive and a threat to regional security. In an interview with Reuters, an aide to Saudi Arabia’s defense minister, Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri, confirmed that defense ministers... 

The US and Russia have adopted “Terms for a Cessation of Hostilities in Syria” and propose that a ceasefire start on Saturday at midnight Damascus time. Terror groups, such as ISIS and Al-Nusra, are not part of the truce. According to the statement, the truce will “be applied to [all] those parties to the Syrian conflict that have indicated their commitment” to accept its terms. It will exclude... 

Turkey has the right to carry out military operations not only in Syria, but in any other country, which is hosting terror groups that threaten the Turkish state, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said. “Turkey has every right to conduct operations in Syria and the places where terror organizations are nested with regards to the struggle against the threats that Turkey faces,” Erdogan was cited... 

Turkey has already unleashed a war in the Middle East, Marine combat veteran Gordon Duff, referring to the country’s de facto invasion of Iraq and shelling of Syria. In the past few years Turkey and Saudi Arabia have been creating a “new Wahhabi empire” in the Middle East and beyond by fuelling Islamic extremists, Muslim Brotherhood recruits and al-Qaeda affiliates. “Turkey... 

Earlier this week a Saudi political analyst told RT’s Arab network the kingdom has a nuclear weapon. Dahham Al-‘Anzi made the claim while saying Saudi Arabia is engaged in an effort to “minimize the Iranian threat in the Levant and Syria.” Although Saudi Arabia has officially denied it has a nuclear weapons program and has publicly stated it opposes nuclear weapons in the Middle East, it...