Middle East & North Africa

23 September 2023; MEMO: A Muslim student, who had been turned away from school for wearing a kimono, a Japanese garment, in France, has filed a complaint with the UN over being “discriminated against” due to her religious affiliation, Anadolu Agency reports.

The controversy over the French government’s stance against hijab in schools continues, with many students being turned away for wearing loose over-garments.

23 September 2023; MEMO: Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler stressed the need for the Bashar Al-Assad regime to meet several requirements before Turkish forces withdraw from northern Syria.

The requirements include the establishment of a new constitution and the holding of democratic elections, in addition to the formation of a government that represents all Syrian sects.

23 September 2023; MEMO: The government of South Africa has exempted Palestinian citizens holding Palestinian passports from entry visas to South Africa.

23 September 2023; MEMO: Lebanon’s army said it fired tear gas at Israeli forces over the border on Saturday in response to smoke bombs fired at its troops, though Israel said Lebanon started the confrontation, Reuters reports.

Tensions have flared along the frontier this summer, with rockets fired at Israel during flare-ups of Israeli-Palestinian violence, and members of the heavily armed Lebanese group Hezbollah or its supporters facing off with Israeli forces.

23 September 2023; MEMO: Sudan’s army chief said on Friday he had not sought military support on a recent regional tour and that his preference was for a peaceful solution to the conflict that has killed thousands and displaced millions of civilians, Reuters reports.

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan also said in an interview with Reuters that he had asked neighbouring states to stop sending mercenaries in support of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

24 September 2023; MEMO: Saudi authorities have sentenced a girl of secondary school age to 18 years in prison and imposed a travel ban on her for expressing support of political prisoners online, in one of the latest examples of Riyadh’s harsh crackdown on any form of dissent.

BEIRUT, Sept 22 (NNN-NNA) – The Lebanese Army Command said in a statement yesterday that, the army stopped 1,000 Syrians from illegally entering Lebanon, since the beginning of this week.

“Within the framework of combating people smuggling across land borders, army units thwarted, on various dates during the current week, attempts to infiltrate about 1,000 Syrians into Lebanon,” said the statement.

The army added that, it has prevented thousands of Syrians from informally entering Lebanese territories over the past weeks.

TEHRAN, Sept 22 (NNN-TASNIM) – Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi, said yesterday that, he has brought back more than 3,500 clay tablets, dating back to the era of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia (550s-330s BC) from the United States.

He made the remarks in an address to reporters, upon his arrival in the Iranian capital, Tehran, from a trip to New York, where he took part in the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

RAMALLAH, Sept 22 (NNN-WAFA) – UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, will visit the Palestinian territories in October.

Guterres informed Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, of his upcoming visit, during a meeting on the sidelines of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

It will be Guterres’ first visit to Palestine since 2017, when he travelled to both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Sept 22 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said he does not care about allegations of "sportswashing" against the kingdom and that he will continue funding sport if it adds to the country's gross domestic product (GDP).

The allegation of "sportswashing" is levelled at countries perceived to be using sport to improve their tarnished image abroad.

"If sportswashing (is) going to increase my GDP by 1%, then we'll continue doing sportswashing," the crown prince told Fox News.