Middle East & North Africa

17 August 2023; MEMO: The head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, will visit Israel next week to assess the impact to the Israel Defence Forces combat readiness following the refusal of some reservists to report for voluntary duties in protest against the government’s judicial overhaul plan, Israeli media reported on Wednesday. Senior Israeli military leaders, including Air Force Commander Major General Tomer Bar, have warned of a gradual degradation in the IDF’s combat readiness amid the protests. 

17 August 2023; MEMO: Israeli occupation forces this morning demolished a Palestinian school in the occupied West Bank under the pretext that it lacked the necessary building license, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Education.

The Israeli authorities demolished Ein Samia School, located east of Ramallah, which provides educational services to a number of students in the Bedouin community, a ministry statement said.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition vessel Handala has concluded the first stage of the new mission to break the Israeli-led siege of the Gaza Strip. The vessel has returned to the Norwegian capital, Oslo, the International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza said on Wednesday.

DUBAI, Aug 16 (NNN-WAM) – Dubai Ports (DP) World, a United Arab Emirates (UAE) port operator, expects to expand its container handling capacity by about three million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), by the end of the year, it was reported yesterday.

DP World, which ranks among the top five global port operators, handles approximately nine percent of the world’s total containers. Upon expansion, its capacity will rise to 93.6 million TEUs, enabling it to meet growing demand in main trade markets, said the report.

ADEN, Aug 16 (NNN-SABA) – Unidentified gunmen opened fire and killed a senior officer of Yemen’s government forces, in the country’s south-western province of Taiz yesterday, a government official said.

The official, who asked to remain anonymous, said that, Adnan Al-Muhya, an officer of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), was gunned down by masked assailants, in the Al-Jamhouri residential neighbourhood.

ISTANBUL, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Russia's raid on a ship just off Turkey's coast brings the fallout from the Ukraine war to another NATO frontier and raises the stakes as Ankara seeks to coax Moscow back to a grain-export deal that would restore some calm to the Black Sea.

Armed marines raided the Turkish-based vessel via helicopter on Sunday some 60 km (37 miles) off Turkey's northwest coast, in international waters but near Istanbul, in what Moscow called an inspection before it sailed on to Ukraine.

CAIRO (AP) — Clashes between rival militias in Libya’s capital killed at least 27 people and left residents trapped in their homes Tuesday, unable to escape the violence, medical authorities said.

The fighting appears to be the most intense to shake Tripoli this year. In addition to the 27 deaths, over 100 people were injured in the fighting, Libya’s Emergency Medicine and Support Center, a medical body that is deployed during humanitarian disasters and wars, said early Wednesday.

15 August 2023; MEMO: The Palestinian Hamas group, on Tuesday, said that it has seized an Israeli drone in Gaza, Anadolu Agency reports.

This was announced in a brief statement by the Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Movement.

The statement said that the Qassam Brigades seized a K1 Orbiter drone on Monday while it was on “a hostile reconnaissance mission in the airspace of eastern Gaza.”

15 August 2023; MEMO: More than 900 academics and public figures engaged in cultural activities including artists, museum professionals and art historians, have signed an open letter condemning Israel’s apartheid system, New York’s Hyperallergic magazine has reported.

15 August 2023; MEMO: The Saudi football club Al Hilal has reached an agreement with French-Brazilian star Neymar, Saudi state media reported yesterday.

According to the Spanish newspaper Sport, the Paris St-Germain (PSG) player will undergo a medical examination in Paris, in preparation for signing his contract with the Saudi club.

The Spanish newspaper added that Al Hilal will present the Neymar deal next Wednesday at a remarkable event in Riyadh.