Middle East & North Africa

Tehran, July 29, IRNA – US is a sanctions addict and it has imposed sanctions on an array of nations more than any other countries in the world, Iran's Foreign Minister said Sunday.

29 July 2018; AFP; Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi was released from prison Sunday after serving eight months for slapping two Israeli soldiers, an episode captured on video that made her a symbol of resistance for Palestinians.

Tamimi, 17, and her mother Nariman arrived in their village of Nabi Saleh in the occupied West Bank, where they were met by crowds of supporters and journalists.

"The resistance continues until the fall of the occupation, and of course the (female) prisoners in jail are all strong," Ahed Tamimi said, her voice barely audible above the crowd.

29 July 2018; AFP; President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned the US in comments published Sunday that sanctions would not force Ankara to "step back" after Donald Trump threatened to punish Turkey if a US pastor was not freed.

"You cannot make Turkey take a step back with sanctions," Erdogan said in his first comments since relations soured after Trump threatened the measures on Thursday if Pastor Andrew Brunson was not released.

Baghdad, July 28, IRNA - Thousands of people took to the streets of Baghdad and cities across southern Iraq on Friday in the latest protests against corruption, social ills and political leadership.

JERUSALEM, July 27 (NNN-Ma'an) -- The United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nikolay Mladenov, said in a statement that the besieged Gaza Strip is on the verge of total economic and social collapse.

Mladenov stressed that half of Gaza’s population suffers from unemployment and that basic services are severely overstretched.

WASHINGTON, July 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said here on Thursday that the United States will slap "significant economic sanctions" on Turkey unless it immediately releases a detained U.S. pastor.

Pence said Turkey should take immediate action to free Andrew Brunson or "be prepared to face the consequences."

U.S. President Donald Trump also tweeted earlier that Ankara should release Brunson, calling the cleric's detention "a total disgrace."

ANKARA, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Turkey will never tolerate threats from anybody, Turkish Foreign Minister said on Thursday in response to warnings of sanctions from the United States leadership.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Thursday that the United States will slap "significant economic sanctions" on Turkey unless it immediately releases detained U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson.

"No one dictates Turkey. We will never tolerate threats from anybody. Rule of law is for everyone, no exception," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a Twitter message.

Damascus, SANA- The United Nations Resident Coordinator in Syria Ali al-Zaatari denounced the terrorist attacks that took place in Sweida province and caused dozens of civilian causalities.

In a statement on Wednesday, al-Zaatari reaffirmed the UN firm stance and its demands to protect civilians, infrastructure and keep civilians away from the impacts of war wherever they were.

DAMASCUS, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Israel targeted a Syrian warplane on Tuesday, leaving a pilot killed and another missing, a monitor group reported.

The Israeli air defenses fired two missiles toward the warplane, which was striking rebel positions in southern Syria, and destroyed it, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The search for the second pilot is underway, the London-based watchdog added.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli army said its air defenses intercepted a Syrian Sukhoi plane penetrating into the Golan Heights.

BETHLEHEM/JERUSALEM, July 24 (NNN-XINHUA) - A Palestinian boy was killed by Israeli gun fire, on Monday, after an Israeli military raid into the Dheisheh Refugee Camp, in the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem.

The Palestinian boy, identified as 15-year-old Arkan Mezher, was shot in the chest and heart, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Two were injured and at least three others were arrested, during the military raid into the camp, as young Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces, said Palestinian sources.