Middle East & North Africa

RIYADH, July 7 (Reuters) - The United States and Israel are seeking to lay the groundwork for a security alliance with Arab states that would connect air defence systems to combat Iranian drone and missile attacks in the Middle East, four sources familiar with the plan said.

The idea, which would use Israeli technology, could gain momentum during President Joe Biden’s stops in Israel, the Palestinian territories and Saudi Arabia on a July 13-16 trip, said two of the sources who were briefed on the plans.

ANKARA, July 6 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Erdogan met on Wednesday with his visiting Somalian counterpart Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in the capital Ankara to discuss regional security and humanitarian aid to the African country.

In a joint press conference after their meeting, the Turkish president stressed the importance of Somalia's stability and security for the whole African horn, noting Turkey will continue to stand with Somalia in the international arena.

MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — It is a scene that stirs hope — and relief — for Muslims around the world.

One million pilgrims from across the globe amassed on Thursday in the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia to perform the initial rites of the hajj, marking the largest Islamic pilgrimage since the coronavirus pandemic upended the annual event — a key pillar of Islam.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A British Royal Navy vessel seized a sophisticated shipment of Iranian missiles in the Gulf of Oman earlier this year, officials said Thursday, pointing to the interdiction as proof of Tehran’s support for Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the embattled country.

The British government statement was striking in that it provided some of the strongest findings to date that Tehran is arming the Houthis against the Saudi-led military coalition with advanced weapons smuggled through the Persian Gulf.

07 July 2022; MEMO: Iran's Revolutionary Guards have detained several foreigners, including Britain's second most senior envoy in Tehran, for alleged acts of spying such as taking soil samples in restricted areas, state television reported yesterday.

Reuters reports that it did not say whether those detained were still under arrest. The UK Foreign Office said claims that its Deputy Ambassador Giles Whitaker had been detained were "completely false".

07 July 2022; MEMO: The opposition coalition in Sudan has rejected the dissolution of the Sovereignty Council by army chief of staff General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and the formation of a new government of technocrats. According to a member of the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC), Omer Al-Digiar, Al-Burhan's offer is an attempt to "consolidate military rule and circumvent the December revolution."

07 July 2022; MEMO: The Tunisian Judges Association announced yesterday that two judges have joined three of their colleagues who have been on hunger strike for two weeks in rejection of President Kais Saied's dismissal of 57 of their peers, Anadolu news agency reported.

The body criticised the "continued closure of prospects for dialogue with the executive authority, despite repeated demands."

06 July 2022; MEMO: Greece has secretly been establishing a system of defence against Turkish drones, using Israeli technology to counter them in the case of an attack.

In the Greek newspaper, Kathimerini, its diplomatic-defence correspondent and journalist, Vassilis Nedos, wrote that Athens has set up a "veritable umbrella against enemy unmanned aerial vehicles" over the past two months, particularly over islands and important sites in the country.

06 July 2022; MEMO: Belgian lawmakers gave initial clearance on Wednesday to a prisoner exchange treaty with Iran that could lead to the release of an Iranian diplomat convicted of planning to bomb a rally of an exiled opposition group, Reuters reports.

The Foreign Relations Committee of Belgium's lower house debated the treaty for more than six hours over two days before finally approving it.

06 July 2022; MEMO: Turkiye has decided to join the Svalbard Treaty, in a move which could advance the country's polar ambitions and access to the Arctic region.

According to the Turkish newspaper, Hurriyet Daily News, the Bill to become a party to the Svalbard Treaty has been signed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, officially making the country an applicant to the treaty.