Middle East & North Africa

MOSCOW, October 10./TASS/. Changing the status of the Golan Heights in sidestepping the UN Security Council would come in direct violation of its resolutions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists on Wednesday.

"The status of the Golan Heights is determined by UN Security Council resolutions," he reiterated. "I think that changing the status in bypassing the Security Council would be a direct violation of these resolutions," he added.

ANKARA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian rebels have completed the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the demilitarized zone in the northern province of Idlib, Turkish Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

Turkey's activities in Idlib will continue in order to secure sustainable and permanent peace, the ministry said in a statement.

Opposition forces in the region also confirmed to state-run Anadolu Agency that they removed their heavy weapons, including Grad rocket launchers, mortars and medium-range missiles from the area on Sunday night.

TEHRAN, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said on Tuesday that the U.S. unilateralism is the root cause of growing insecurity in the world, Press TV reported.

Unilateral measures by the United States in dealing with the global issues have created great problems and challenges for the international community, Larijani noted.

The Iranian speaker made the remarks in an address to the third meeting of the speakers of the Eurasian countries' parliaments in Turkey's Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya.

JERUSALEM; 9 Oct 2018; (AP) — In a first-of-its-kind case, Israel has held an American graduate student at its international airport for a whole week, accusing her of supporting a Palestinian-led boycott movement against the Jewish state.

Lara Alqasem, a 22-year-old American citizen with Palestinian grandparents, landed at Ben-Gurion Airport last Tuesday with a valid student visa.

8 Oct 2018; AFP: Turkey has sought permission to search Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul after a prominent journalist from the kingdom went missing last week following a visit to the building, Turkish television reported on Monday.

The request was made after the foreign ministry summoned the Saudi ambassador for a second time over the disappearance of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, NTV broadcaster said.

6 Oct 2018; AA: The Turkish army has dispatched two aircraft to transport aid sent to disaster-hit Indonesia, the army said on Saturday.

In a Twitter post, the Turkish Armed Forces said that on Friday two C-130 transport aircraft would transfer Turkish Red Crescent aid in order to meet the needs of people affected by the earthquake in Indonesia.

On Sept. 28, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck Sulawesi Island, which triggered a tsunami that towered up to 10 feet (3 meters) high.

ANKARA; 7 Oct 2018; AA: Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi who has been missing since he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct.2, has not left the building since, police sources said on Saturday.

The Washington Post's columnist Khashoggi visited the Saudi consulate for marriage procedures, the sources who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media, said.

7 Oct 2018; AFP: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's wife Sara Netanyahu goes on trial Sunday for allegedly using state funds to fraudulently pay for hundreds of meals, part of a list of legal troubles facing the family.

The start of the trial will be the latest chapter in a saga intensely scrutinised in Israel -- but dismissed by the Netanyahus as another "absurd" attempt to discredit them.

ISTANBUL; 7 Oct 2018; (AP) — Turkish investigators believe a prominent Saudi journalist who contributed to The Washington Post was killed in “a preplanned murder” at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul, the Post reported Saturday night, citing two anonymous officials.

One Turkish official also told The Associated Press that detectives’ “initial assessment” was that Jamal Khashoggi was killed at the consulate, without elaborating. Saudi authorities early Sunday called the allegation “baseless.”

GAZA, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Three Palestinians were killed and 376 wounded on Friday in clashes between thousands of Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers in eastern Gaza Strip, close to the border with Israel, medics said.

Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesperson of Gaza Health Ministry told reporters that three Palestinians, including a child, were killed by Israeli soldiers' gunfire in eastern Gaza City.

A total of 192 of the wounded were hospitalized, including 126 shot by Israeli soldiers' live gunshots, he said.