Middle East & North Africa

BEIRUT (AP) — Senior Arab lawmakers were in Syria on Sunday for talks with President Bashar Assad on bringing his country back into the fold of the Arab world. The visit follows a mini-summit in Baghdad that affirmed the Arab League’s intentions of having Syria return to the organization despite the country’s devastating civil war.

Lawmakers from nine Arab countries, as well as Palestinian representatives, made up the delegation — reflecting a continuation in the thawing of relations with Assad, who for over a decade has been isolated from most of the region.

BEIRUT (AP) — Egypt’s parliament speaker headed a Mideast delegation Sunday on a visit to Syria for talks with President Bashar Assad. The trip follows a mini-summit in Baghdad that affirmed the Arab League’s intentions of bringing Syria back into the region’s fold despite the country’s devastating civil war.

24 Feb 2023; MEMO: Turkiye has imposed regulations for earthquake rebuilding work in its region hit by this month's devastating tremors, according to a Presidential decree published in the country's Official Gazette on Friday, Reuters reports.

More than 160,000 buildings, containing 520,000 apartments, collapsed or were severely damaged as a result of earthquakes that killed more than 43,000 people in Turkiye and left millions homeless in cold winter weather.

24 Feb 2023; MEMO: Japan is operating its biggest overseas medical mission in Turkish regions which have been hit hard by two massive earthquakes, a senior official from the country said.

"It is the first time for the Japanese government to set up Type-II hospital which among other capacities can conduct surgical operation and can accept patients for night stay," Takeshi Ishihara, the leader of around 70 medical and paramedical Japanese staff, told Anadolu.

24 Feb 2023; MEMO: Turkiye has begun initial work to rebuild homes following this month's devastating earthquakes, a government official said on Friday, as a UN Development Program (UNDP) estimated 1.5 million people have been left homeless, Reuters reports.

More than 160,000 buildings containing 520,000 apartments collapsed, or were severely damaged, in the 6 February earthquakes that killed more than 43,500 people in Turkiye and nearly 6,000 in neighbouring Syria.

24 Feb 2023; MEMO: In a phone call on Friday, the Turkish President thanked his Russian counterpart for his solidarity over the devastating 6 February earthquakes that hit the country's southern region, Anadolu News Agency reports.

"President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan thanked President (Vladimir) Putin for displaying solidarity with Turkiye over the earthquakes," according to the Turkish Presidency.

24 Feb 2023; MEMO: At least two people were killed in an air strike on a motorcycle in the rebel-held zone of north-west Syria on Friday, the local civil defence said, in the first aerial bombing on the area since a devastating earthquake nearly three weeks ago, Reuters reports.

The rescue force that operates in opposition-held parts of Syria said two unidentified people were hit in an air strike carried out by "an unidentified aerial drone".

25 Feb 2023; MEMO: The political conflict and social rift due to the government's plan to weaken the judiciary and start passing legislation in the Knesset have reached the ranks of the Israeli occupation army on a relatively large scale, prompting Chief of General Staff of the Israeli Defense Forces Herzi Halevi to issue a warning in this regard.

25 Feb 2023; MEMO: Iranian state television announced on Friday that Iran is likely to sell surface-to-air missiles to Syria to help it boost air defences in the face of repeated Israeli airstrikes.

"Syria needs to rebuild its air defence network and requires precision bombs for its fighter planes," shared the state television.

25 Feb 2023; MEMO: France has expressed "its concern regarding the recent wave of arrests in Tunisia", calling on authorities to: "Ensure that individual liberties and civil liberties are respected, in particular the freedom of expression."

This was conveyed in a press statement by the French Foreign Ministry, which was posted by the French Embassy to Tunisia on its website.