Middle East & North Africa

24 Jan 2021; MEMO: Three rockets struck the vicinity of Baghdad International Airport, according to the Iraqi Defence Ministry on Saturday, Anadolu Agency reports.

A ministry statement said two rockets landed outside the airport, while the third hit a house in the Al-Jihad neighbourhood, west of Baghdad.

No casualties were reported in the overnight attacks.

There was no claim of responsibility for the rocket attacks.

23 Jan 2021; MEMO: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that the country's vaccination campaign against the coronavirus pandemic is likely to roll out in February with imported vaccines, Anadolu Agency reports.

Speaking at a meeting in the capital Tehran, Rouhani said it is "necessary" to use foreign-manufactured vaccines until the homegrown vaccines are ready for mass usage.

24 Jan 2021; MEMO: The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas is planning to hold its internal elections at the same time as preparing for national elections, Anadolu Agency reported on Friday.

23 Jan 2021; MEMO: Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi has announced the firing of five senior security officials, stressing that he would personally oversee reforms to address "challenges" facing intelligence services in the country, Anadolu Agency reported on Friday.

23 Jan 2021; MEMO: Turkish security forces on Saturday arrested at least 72 suspected human traffickers in operations based in the country's commercial hub Istanbul, Anadolu Agency reports.

Police arrested 72 suspects after prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 94 alleged members of a criminal organization which organises illegal border crossings, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

19 Jan 2021; MEMO: Snow fell in Saudi Arabia and Algeria at the weekend as temperatures plummeted to below freezing. Residents of the southern Aseer region in the Kingdom also saw an extremely rare snowfall on Thursday when temperatures dropped as low as minus 2o Celsius in the mountainous region, the lowest recorded level in half a century.

19 Jan 2021; MEMO: Egyptian security services have arrested a chef who made cakes in the shape of male and female private parts for a birthday party at Al-Jazirah Club.

The news has sparked controversy in the state-run press, who have quoted other members of the club complaining that the people who participated in the party, and the organiser, should be investigated.

One source in the security forces said that it was "incitement to immorality."

19 Jan 2021; MEMO: Turkey has imposed advertising bans on a number of social media companies due to their refusal to comply with a new law requiring them to assign legal representatives in the country. The bans were imposed today on Twitter, Pinterest and Periscope.

19 Jan 2021; MEMO: The Syrian Foreign Ministry has dismissed reports about alleged secret meetings with Israeli officials last month at a Russian airbase in Hmeimim, Syria.

20 Jan 2021; MEMO: Abdelaziz Aftati, member of the General Secretariat of the Justice and Development Party (leader of the government coalition in Morocco) confirmed that the thinker and deputy, Abouzaid El Mokrie El Idrissi, decided to freeze his membership to the party following the kingdom's decision to normalise relations with Israel.