Middle East & North Africa

AIN SOKHNA, Egypt, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) started on Tuesday the main phase of the construction of a new terminal basin in Sokhna Port south of the Suez Canal northeast of Egypt.

The project was assigned to CHEC by the Sokhna branch of the Emirati corporation DP World, the main investor and container operator in the port located at the Gulf of Suez.

At a launching ceremony, CHEC said it will deliver the "Basin 2" project in fewer than 12 months ahead of the deadline.

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA; 28.08.2018; AA: Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke with his Pakistani counterpart Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday and voiced Ankara's desire to further strengthen ties with Islamabad, according to the Pakistani Foreign Ministry.

In a statement, the ministry said: "Mr. Cavusoglu expressed a strong desire of the government of Turkey to strengthen the existing close and friendly relations between the two countries.

JERUSALEM; 29 Aug 2018; AA: A former Israeli soldier who shot dead an injured Palestinian said that he has “no regret” for his action.

“I know what I have done was right, and I go with it all the way with my head up,” Elor Azaria said in an interview with Israel Hayoum newspaper, excerpts of which were released on Wednesday.

"I do not regret it,” he said “and if time goes back to that moment in Hebron. I will do exactly what I did, because it was the right thing to do.”

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA; 28 Aug 2018; AA: A Turkish fighter pilot has carried out the first flight of the F-35 jet in the U.S. as part of ongoing training, the Turkish General Staff said on Tuesday.

Early July, the Pentagon said Turkish pilots and maintenance personnel were being trained on the F-35 fighter jet in the state of Arizona.

Late June, Turkey took delivery of its first F-35 fighter jet at a ceremony in Forth Worth, Texas.

Turkey plans to get 100 F-35 fighter jets in upcoming years.

RAMALLAH, Palestine, Aug 28 (NNN-XINHUA) - Palestinian Prime Minister, Rami Hamdallah, said, the current U.S. government is an accomplice, in Israeli occupation of the Palestinian land and destabilisation of the region.
He made the remarks, during the opening ceremony of a new hospital in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

MOSCOW, August 27. /TASS/. The Syrian air defenses have been placed on high alert in case of a sudden missile strike by the US, news portal Al-Masdar reported on Monday, citing a source in the republic’s military command. According to the source, the Mezzeh Airbase has received an order to prepare for a possible attack on Damascus.

TASS, August 28. The Saudi-led coalition carried out a series of strikes on the international airport in Yemen’s capital of Sana’a, Al Masirah TV channel reported on Tuesday.

The air strikes targeted more than ten facilities, including a military air base located near the airport, according to the report.

Sky News Arabiya TV channel reported that the alliance carried out 11 strikes on the Houthi rebels’ positions. The coalition’s aircraft continue intense flights over the Yemeni capital.

JERUSALEM, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Israeli forces demolished early on Tuesday morning the family home of a Palestinian who killed an Israeli in a West Bank settlement in July.

The military's Spokesperson's Unit released a footage showing a bulldozer razing the one-storey home in the Kauber village, north of Ramallah.

JERUSALEM, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces have erupted in the West Bank city of Nablus after the Israeli military allowed Jewish worshippers to enter a holy site, the army said on Tuesday.

The Times of Israel reported that five Palestinians were injured. There were no reports of injuries among the Israeli forces.

The incident took place in Joseph's Tomb, a funerary monument outside Nablus holy to both Jews and Muslims, overnight between Monday and Tuesday.

GENEVA (AP) — Three experts working for the U.N.’s top human rights body say the governments of Yemen, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia may have been responsible for war crimes including rape, torture, disappearances and “deprivation of the right to life” during 3½ years of escalated fighting against rebels in Yemen.

In their first report for the Human Rights Council, the experts also point to possible crimes by rebel Shiite militia in Yemen, which has been fighting the Saudi-led coalition and Yemen’s government since March 2015.