Middle East & North Africa

BEIRUT (AP) — Anti-government protests in southern Syria have stretched into a second week, with demonstrators waving the colorful flag of the minority Druze community, burning banners of President Bashar Assad’s government and at one point raiding several offices of his ruling party.

The protests were initially driven by surging inflation and the war-torn country’s spiraling economy but quickly shifted focus, with marchers calling for the fall of the Assad government.

29 August 2023; MEMO: Saudi Arabia is reportedly considering bids from China, France and Russia for its ambitious nuclear power project, as part of a larger strategy to influence the US over a high-stakes security agreement. Even as the world’s top oil exporter, the kingdom has expressed deep interest in developing a civil nuclear energy programme. 

28 August 2023; MEMO: Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh on Monday sacked Foreign Minister Najla Al-Mangoush, a Foreign Ministry source told Anadolu.

The move came one day after Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said that he had met with Al-Mangoush in Rome, Italy, last week.

Dbeibeh took the decision to sack Al-Mangoush during his visit to the Palestinian Embassy in Tripoli, the source said.

28 August 2023; MEMO: The first Russian train carrying commercial goods has arrived in Iran, on its way to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on a journey that is the first of its kind through Iranian territory, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported. 

28 August 2023; MEMO: Israel launched an airstrike against Aleppo International Airport in northern Syria, putting it out of service, according to Syrian state media, reports Anadolu agency.

SANA news agency, citing a military source, said Israeli warplanes fired missiles from over the Mediterranean Sea, west of the coastal Syrian city of Latakia, and targeted Aleppo International Airport.

The attack caused heavy damage to the airport’s runway and forced it out of service, the source said.

29 August 2023; MEMO: Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmus condemned the attack on a mosque in the Greek Cypriot administration’s city of Limassol.

In a post he published on his social media accounts on Sunday, Kurtulmus conveyed his strong condemnation of the attack on the historic Koprulu Haci Ibrahim Aga mosque.

29 August 2023; MEMO: Sudanese Army Chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan has ruled out the possibility of talks with the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, pledging to continue fighting.

29 August 2023; MEMO: Riyadh and Ankara seek to increase their trade exchange to $30 billion in the medium and long terms, according to the head of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkiye (TOBB), Rifat Hisarciklioglu.

In a speech he delivered yesterday during a Turkish-Saudi roundtable meeting in the Turkish capital, Ankara, Hisarciklioglu said a significant growth in trade exchange between Turkiye and Saudi Arabia is expected by the end of this year.

RAMALLAH, Aug 28 (NNN-WAFA) – Palestinian authorities yesterday called for international pressure on the Israeli government, to stop the sponsorship of settler groups in the West Bank.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry made the appeal in a press statement, after groups of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian farms in the West Bank on Saturday.

Holding the right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, “fully and directly responsible for these attacks,” the ministry said, “the results of such acts would create more tension in the area.”

JERUSALEM, Aug 28 (NNN-MA’AN) – Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, yesterday said, Hamas shall pay full price, if they try to carry out attacks against Israel.

“Whoever tries to hurt us, whoever finances and organises, whoever dispatches terrorists against Israel, will pay the full price,” said Netanyahu in a televised statement.

The remark came, after Hamas’ deputy political chief, Salah al-Arouri threatened a “multi-front war,” if Israel tried to assassinate more Palestinian leaders.