Rasa - Saudi King's unprecedented visit to Russia Wednesday has unleashed a barrage of speculations about the real intentions driving the trip at a time the region is experiencing fresh developments. Despite the fact that Moscow and Riyadh have a relatively long history of diplomatic relations, Salman bin Abdulaziz is the first Saudi Arabian monarch to pay a visit to Russia.

Rasa - Following Iran’s Islamic Revolution of 1979 and thus death of Nixon's “Twin Pillars Policy” that designated Iran as its military and security pillar and Saudi Arabia as the political and economic one, Riyadh sought reducing Iran’s influence in favor of achieving regional dominance on the strength of support from the West amid Tehran’s special post-revolution conditions and its decline to abide by the Western policies in the region.

Rasa - A week after the independence referendum, Iraq’s Kurdish region leaders founded “Political Leadership of Kurdistan-Iraq”, a leadership body replacing the High Referendum Council that undertook the preparation and organization of the controversial September 25 vote on breakaway from Iraq.

Rasa - The United Nations should be commended for having the courage to once again blacklist Saudi Arabia over murdering innocent children in Yemen.

Rasa - As a growing number of indications suggest that US President Donald Trump is unlikely to certify Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, the international community, particularly Washington’s Western allies, faces the question of whether the US can be trusted in any future international deal.

Rasa - Abdel Bari Atwan, the editor-in-chief of Rai al-Youm newspaper, referred to Saudi King Salman's visit to Moscow, and said the trip is aimed at attracting Russia's assistance to help Riyadh pull out of the war in Yemen.

Rasa - The allied forces of Iran, Syria, Russia and Hezbollah have successfully defeated and neutralized much of the insurgency by foreign-backed terrorist groups and extremist outfits including ISIL and Al-Qaeda in Syria.

Rasa - A confidential draft of the latest UN blacklist on child victims of armed conflict has included Saudi Arabia and its coalition related to the large number of children they have killed and maimed in the war in Yemen.

Rasa - The United States and Israel cannot tolerate Iran as an “independent force” and that is why Washington and its allies have been “tormenting” the people of Iran over the past decades, says prominent American scholar Noam Chomsky.

Rasa - Nearly half a million Rohingya Muslim refugees have fled across the border and have sought refuge in Bangladesh, while 300,000 more have crossed the border to other countries. Of this, women and girls are the most at risk, sleeping under open skies, roadsides, and forest areas with little or no protection.