Middle East & North Africa

JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank (AP) — Israel’s military on Friday carried out an arrest raid in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank and killed two Palestinians in gun battles, according to Palestinian reports. It was the latest bloodshed in what has become the deadliest year in the territory since 2015.

Palestinian militant groups claimed both slain men as members, though there were conflicting statements about the circumstances surrounding the death of one of them, a hospital doctor.

13 October 2022; MEMO: The Turkish Foreign Ministry yesterday declared its rejection of the European Union's "false allegations" about its political system and its measures related to fighting terrorism, Anadolu reported.

Commenting on the EU Commission's report on Turkiye for the year 2022, the ministry said: "We completely reject the false allegations of the European Union about our political system, our officials, our judicial decisions and our counter-terrorism steps."

13 October 2022; MEMO: Over half of the Israeli occupation forces are operating in Palestinian cities across the occupied West Bank, Defence Minister Benny Gantz announced today.

13 October 2022; MEMO: Russian President, Vladimir Putin, proposed to his Turkish counterpart, Tayyip Erdogan, to export more gas via Turkiye and turn it into a new supply "hub", Reuters reports.

According to the report, Putin said Turkiye offered the most reliable and fastest route to deliver gas to the European Union.

14 October 2022; MEMO: Rival Palestinian factions today agreed to resolve 15 years of discord through elections that will be held within a year, a Palestinian and an Algerian official said, according to Reuters.

13 October 2022; MEMO: Lebanon's President, Michel Aoun, announced on Thursday his country's acceptance of the US-brokered maritime border deal with Israel, saying talks had come to "a positive end", Reuters reports.

13 October 2022; MEMO: A military bus was bombed near the Syrian capital, Damascus, today, killing at least 18 Syrian soldiers and wounding 27 others in what is the latest attack on regime forces' transport vehicles.

According to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), which cited a military source, the bus in the countryside surrounding Damascus "was targeted this morning by a terrorist detonation with an explosive device that was planted in advance".

14 October 2022; MEMO: The Russian government has agreed to a cooperation agreement with Morocco in the field of nuclear energy, which includes support for the kingdom's construction of a nuclear plant.

The Russian TASS news agency said yesterday that the Russian Official Portal of Legal Information published on Wednesday a decision issued by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin approving a draft agreement between Moscow and Rabat for cooperation in the field of nuclear energy.

13 October 2022; MEMO: A leading Lebanese politician who is sanctioned by the United States said on Thursday he played a behind-the-scenes role in US-brokered talks to delineate Lebanon's maritime boundary with Israel by liaising with Hezbollah, Reuters reports.

Gebran Bassil, a Christian Member of Parliament and former minister, was sanctioned in 2020 for alleged corruption and material support to Hezbollah but denies the accusations.

14 October 2022; MEMO: Israeli Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked yesterday slammed Prime Minister Yair Lapid after he announced that he will not put the maritime border agreement with Lebanon to a vote in the Knesset, Maariv newspaper reported.