Middle East & North Africa

BAGHDAD, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- An Iraqi Shiite militia claimed on Tuesday responsibility for a drone attack on a U.S. military base in eastern Syria.

An armed group named "Islamic Resistance in Iraq" claimed in an online statement that its fighters had launched a booby-trapped drone toward the al-Omar oil field in the eastern countryside of Syria's Deir al-Zour province. It said the drone had hit its target.

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinian authorities on Tuesday called for a cease-fire to evacuate three dozen newborns and other patients trapped inside Gaza’s biggest hospital as Israeli forces battle Hamas in the streets just outside and seize more ground across northern Gaza.

For days, the Israeli army has encircled Shifa Hospital, determined to seize the facility it says Hamas hides in, and beneath, to use civilians as shields for its main command base.

TEL AVIV, November 13. /TASS/: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) suspended its military operation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, near the border with Egypt, for four hours for humanitarian aid, said Avichay Adraee, the IDF spokesperson for the Arab media.

"We will allow a tactical pause in fighting in Rafah during the day today, namely from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. GMT - TASS) for humanitarian purposes," the spokesman wrote on X (formerly Twitter) in Arabic.

DUBAI, Nov 13 (Reuters) - The exhibition stands of Israeli weapons makers Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems were empty at the start of the opening day of the weeklong Dubai Airshow on Monday, amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

It was not immediately clear why there were no staff at either exhibition stand, which were located close to the pavilion of United Arab Emirates state arms maker EDGE. IAI and EDGE signed joint development programmes at the last Dubai Airshow in 2021.

ANKARA, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Turkish prosecutors on Monday issued arrest warrants for 19 suspects over their alleged ties to a network orchestrating a coup attempt in 2016.

In a statement, Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office said the suspects were allegedly linked to the Gulen movement, which the Turkish government accuses of infiltrating the state bureaucracy and then attempting a coup on July 15, 2016.

RAMALLAH, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye stressed on Monday the rejection of any plans to displace Gaza residents "under the guise of humanitarian aid."

At a cabinet meeting, Ishtaye rejected "a proposal to create a maritime corridor between Cyprus and Gaza by some countries," affirming that "while we seek the arrival of aid, we do not accept the displacement of our people on ships for deportation under the guise of aid."

New Delhi, Nov 13 (PTI) The Congress on Monday accused the Modi government and the BJP of crushing the dreams and aspirations of India's youth.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, while referring to a recent incident in Telangana where a young woman climbed up an electricity pole and tried to convey something to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a rally, said "Young India is fed up with Modi Government's rank betrayal".

11 November 2023; MEMO: The US Al-Tanf military base in southern Syria, located in the Syrian desert near the Jordanian border, was attacked on Friday by unidentified drones, according to local sources.

Sources added that the drones targeted the US base, but there was no information about any casualties, according to Anadolu Agency’s correspondent.

12 November 2023; MEMO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday criticized the Western countries for remaining silent on the massacre in Palestine, Anadolu reports.

Speaking at an emergency joint Arab-Islamic summit in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, Erdogan said, “It is shame that Western countries, which always voice for human rights, and freedoms, remain silent on the massacre in Palestine.”

12 November 2023; MEMO: A doctor at the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said on Saturday that the Israeli army opens fire on those who want to flee the hospital, Anadolu reports.

The Israeli army has surrounded the hospital area and they are “not even a meter away, they are at the door,” Fadia Malhis, a gynecologist at the hospital, told an Anadolu correspondent in frequently interrupted phone conversations.