Middle East & North Africa

19 August 2023; MEMO: At least 500 prisoners in Bahrain are undergoing a hunger strike in what is said to be the largest such demonstration within the Gulf state’s prison system, amid authorities’ ongoing detention of prisoners of conscience. 

According to The Guardian newspaper, detainees began refusing food on 7 August, with increasing numbers of prisoners having joined the hunger strike throughout the following weeks.

DAMASCUS, Aug 18 (NNN-SANA) – Over 100 schools, ravaged by the massive Feb 6 earthquakes, in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo have been successfully renovated.

Mustafa Abdul-Ghani, the education director of Aleppo, confirmed the accomplishment of the restoration work of 146 schools, adding that, another 49 quake-damaged schools were under renovation.

SANAA, Aug 18 (NNN-SABA) – An Omani delegation arrived in Yemen’s rebel-held capital, Sanaa yesterday, in a bid to persuade the Houthi group to accept a UN proposal, for resuming a truce with the Yemeni government, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported.

The delegation is scheduled to hold talks with top Houthi leaders in the coming hours, the television channel said, without elaborating further.

BEIRUT, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Five people were killed, and six others were injured in a car accident on the Qalamoun highway in northern Lebanon, LBCI local TV channel reported.

The accident happened as two cars collided, causing one to hit a utility pole.

The victims were transported to nearby hospitals.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s foreign minister met Friday with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as part of his visit to the kingdom, a sign of how the two countries are trying to ease tensions after years of turmoil.

JENIN, West Bank (AP) — Last month, after the biggest Israeli military raid on a Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank in years, Palestinians turned their wrath on their own security forces.

They unleashed gunfire, firebombs and pipe bombs at Palestinian security buildings in an outpouring of rage against the Palestinian Authority’s failure to protect them from the devastating July 3 raid and a long-running, deeply unpopular security alliance with Israel.

17 August 2023; MEMO: Iranian and Saudi Arabian military officials have met at the sidelines of the 11th Moscow Conference on International Security, the first time since the two countries resumed diplomatic relations as part of a Chinese-brokered deal in March, ending six years of severed ties.

17 August 2023; MEMO: The United States (US) granted authorisation for the sale of Israel’s Arrow 3 missile defence system to Germany, in a deal worth $3.5 billion, reported Reuters.

The ministry said in a statement today that senior officials from the Israeli and German defence ministries would sign a letter of commitment to the deal with a preliminary payment of $600 million.

17 August 2023; MEMO: Lebanon’s Minister of Works Ali Hamieh yesterday announced the arrival of an oil and gas exploration vessel in Block 9.

This came about ten months after Israel and Lebanon reached a US-brokered agreement to demarcate their maritime borders. The two sides discussed – through mediators – the issue of gas exploration in the Mediterranean.

17 August 2023; MEMO: Turkiye is the fastest-growing holiday destination over the last five years, with flying programmes increasing by 200 per cent since 2018, the Independent reports.

According to the report, this growth has been driven by demand, resulting in an upsurge in flying frequency, longer seasons and the launch of holidays to a new Turkish destination, Izmir, in 2019 reported by the tour operator, Jet2holidays.