Middle East & North Africa

DUBAI, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Germany expressed regret on Monday that Tehran had not responded positively to European proposals to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement, underlining the dim prospects for a deal soon, as Israel urged action to stop Iran becoming a nuclear armed state.

Two days after European powers said they had "serious doubts" about Iran's intentions over the deal, Iran said it was ready to continue cooperating with U.N. nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

TEHRAN, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian army has developed an advanced unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of striking the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa, Press TV reported Monday, citing an Iranian commander.

The Arash-2 drone, with the capability to retrieve information before striking and destroying the designated target, "has been specifically designed to target Haifa and Tel Aviv," Kioumars Heydari, ground force commander of the Iranian army, said in an interview on Sunday.

ISTANBUL, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- A gunfight in a shopping mall left six people wounded on late Sunday in Istanbul's Sariyer district, local media reported on Monday.

"After the gunfight incident that broke out between two groups with a prior history of animosity, a total of six citizens, namely five foreign individuals and one Turkish citizen, were transferred to nearby hospitals for treatment," said local officials in a statement.

One person among the wounded was in critical condition.

BEIRUT (AP) — The Islamic State group killed six U.S.-backed Syrian fighters in eastern Syria saying on Monday that the killing was in retaliation for an ongoing operation inside a sprawling camp housing tens of thousands of family members of the extremist group.

The IS-linked Aamaq news agency released a video showing the shooting of the six members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces near the eastern village of Ruwaished where they were captured alive and later shot dead late Sunday.

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s central bank lifted its remaining subsidies on fuel on Monday, gas station owners said, ending a year-long process of scaling back on the expensive program.

The Central Bank over a year ago announced it would gradually lift fuel subsidies, to slow down the draining of its foreign exchange reserves. Fuel subsidies once cost the cash-strapped country some $3 billion annually. Last week, it subsidized just 20% of the cost of fuel imports.

11 Sep 2022; MEMO: A ship that came under fire from the Greek Coast Guard in international waters near southwestern Turkey a day ago resumed its journey on Sunday, Anadolu Agency reported.

The Anatolian, a Comoros-flagged cargo vessel, set off from Canakkale after completion of judicial and administrative formalities about Saturday's incident.

The ship will head for maintenance at a shipyard in the Inebolu district of Turkey's Kastamonu province.

11 Sep 2022; MEMO: Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani met on Sunday with Libya's Parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh to discuss cooperation between the two sides, Anadolu Agency reported.

A statement by the emir's office, the Emiri Court, said the parliament speaker briefed the Qatari ruler on the latest developments in Libya.

Talks between the two sides dwelt on bilateral cooperation, Libyan developments and a host of regional and international issues, the statement said.

12 Sep 2022; MEMO: The commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy, Commodore Alireza Tangsiri has stated that the country's naval forces will have a presence in international waters, which he attributed to the recently unveiled Martyr Soleimani warship.

12 Sep 2022; MEMO: The Palestine Scholars Association said yesterday that increasing plots targeting Al-Aqsa Mosque make it necessary to mobilise support for it.

In the statement, the association stressed on the importance of urgent action to teach the people about the required support and protection of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem and Palestine.

12 Sep 2022; MEMO: Israel's Zionist Spirit party leader Ayelet Shaked and recent ally Yoaz Hendel ended their short-lived political partnership yesterday, local media reported.

Shaked, the Israeli interior minister, and Hendel, the Communications minister, formed their partnership just one and half a month ago.

They ended their partnership over the party's support for a possible government led by Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu, which would be strongly opposed by Hendel.