Middle East & North Africa

13 October 2022; MEMO: Iran is holding high school students detained in protests over the death of an Iranian woman in police custody in psychological counselling centres, Minister of Education and Training, Yousef Nouri, said Wednesday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

"No students were jailed," Nouri said in statements cited by the local Sharq newspaper. "The detainees are admitted into correction and education centres where experts are tending to their needs," he added.

12 October 2022; MEMO: Right-wing Israeli lawmaker, Itamar Ben-Gvir, along with dozens of Israeli extremists, stormed the courtyards of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque this morning under the protection of Israeli authorities, for the second day in a row.

​​Local witnesses told Wafa news agency that dozens of settlers, led by Ben-Gvir, raided the Islamic holy site, took provocative tours and performed Talmudic rituals, in celebration of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

12 October 2022; MEMO: Tunisia's Soumoud Coalition has said in an official statement that it no longer supports President Kais Saied's 25 July movement and called for boycotting December's legislative elections.

The coalition comprises a group of academics and experts who initially supported Saied's controversial move on 25 July 2021 when he dismissed the government and froze the parliament.

12 October 2022; MEMO: The Lebanese Resistance Movement, Hezbollah, says it will not recognise any maritime border deal between the government and Israel until it is officially signed.

Yesterday, Secretary-General, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said that until an agreement is finalised, Hezbollah "will remain vigilant".

"The pending hours are fateful. As the people of Lebanon, we are awaiting (declaration of) an official position on the part of our President and the Zionist enemy," he said.

12 October 2022; MEMO: Israel's cabinet on Wednesday endorsed a US-brokered deal to delineate a maritime border with Lebanon, paving the way for a potentially fractious two-week parliamentary review before it goes into force, Reuters reports.

Lawmakers and a Parliamentary Committee will now have 14 days to review details of the deal before it again comes before the cabinet for a final vote, according to a statement from Prime Minister, Yair Lapid's office. This brings it close to a 1 November national election.

13 October 2022; MEMO: Hundreds of people protested at checkpoints into a refugee camp in Jerusalem and protests between Palestinians and Israeli security forces broke out across the West Bank on Wednesday, with a Palestinian killed near the southern city of Hebron, Reuters reports.

The incidents continue months of escalating tensions that have deepened since Israeli forces began a crackdown in the occupied West Bank in late March that killed 19 people.

12 October 2022; MEMO: Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister said that the efforts to extend the truce in Yemen still stand, Al Arabiya TV reported on Wednesday, after an initial UN-brokered pact between a Saudi-led coalition and the Houthi movement expired early this month, Reuters reports.

The Kingdom, the coalition and the Riyadh-backed Yemeni government are "keen on extending the truce," the Saudi-owned TV quoted Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, as saying.

13 October 2022; MEMO: Iranian authorities have arrested an alleged spy working for the Israeli intelligence service, the Mossad, Israeli media reported.

The suspect was arrested in the city of Kerrman in central Iran by the intelligence arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The suspect planned to carry out "subversive" operations with the aim of destabilising the region and shaking its security, the report says.

12 October 2022; MEMO: Egypt is pushing to tie up a crucial financial package from the International Monetary Fund at annual meetings in Washington this week, hoping to stem a currency crisis that has restricted imports and sparked market unease over foreign debt repayments, Reuters reports.

12 October 2022; MEMO: Lebanese President, Michel Aoun, announced Wednesday that his country will start returning Syrian refugees to areas controlled by the Syrian regime of Bashar Al-Assad at the end of next week.

In statements published by the Lebanese Presidency on Twitter, Aoun said "starting next week, the process of returning the displaced Syrians will begin in batches to their country".