Middle East & North Africa

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish court sentenced 92 defendants including former high-ranking army officials to life in jail on Wednesday for their roles in the 2016 attempted coup, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported.

More than 250 people were killed in the attempt to overthrow the government on July 15, 2016 when rogue soldiers commandeered warplanes, helicopters and tanks and sought to take control of key state institutions.

Life sentences without parole were given to 12 defendants including some department heads of the land forces, Anadolu said.

DAMASCUS, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- One person was killed and three soldiers injured in a missile attack on the Damascus countryside, Syrian state news agency SANA said on Wednesday, quoting a military source.

Local media also reported that the country's air defenses were repelling an Israeli attack in the skies of the Damascus suburb.

BEIRUT, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) on Tuesday projected the growth rate in the Arab region next year at either 3.5 percent or 2.8 percent.

The ESCWA report, "Survey of Economic and Social Developments in the Arab Region," said that the actual path will hinge on the ability of Arab countries to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused losses of about 140 billion U.S. dollars for the region, resulting in an estimated -3 percent growth contraction in 2020.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — As the coronavirus pandemic ravages Iran, home to the Mideast’s worst outbreak, a women’s group hopes to empower its members by helping them make and sell face masks.

The organization called “Bavar,” or “Belief” in Farsi, formed in 2016, allowing women looking for work to make handicrafts with donated sewing machines. It gave widows and others a way to earn cash in a country whose anemic economy only worsened since, two years later, President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Jonathan Pollard, who spent 30 years in U.S. prison for spying for Israel, arrived in Israel early Wednesday with his wife, triumphantly kissing the ground as he disembarked from the aircraft in the culmination of a decades-long affair that had long strained relations between the two close allies.

ANKARA, Dec 29 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkish security forces killed 20 members of the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), in northern Syria, as they were preparing to carry out an attack on Turkey’s operation zone, Turkey’s Defence Ministry, said.

“Our commandos continue to neutralise PKK/YPG terrorists that are trying to infiltrate the Operation Peace Spring area. Another 20 PKK/YPG terrorists, who attempted to infiltrate from the south, to attack the region, were neutralised by the successful intervention of our commandos,” the ministry tweeted.

29 Dec 2020; MEMO: Iran's government and parliament are close to an agreement on the 2021 budget, ways to counter US sanctions, and COVID-19 vaccine, said the Iranian president on Monday, Anadolu reports.

Hassan Rouhani made the remarks following his meeting with Parliament Speaker Baqer Qalibaf and judicial chief Ebrahim Raeesi, a meeting coming after weeks of intense speculation.

29 Dec 2020; MEMO: A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Saeed Khatibzadeh, yesterday warned Israel not to cross its "red lines" in the Gulf, stressing that his country would defend itself against any "adventure" taken by the US administration in its last days.

"Everyone knows what the Persian Gulf means for Iran," Khatibzadeh told reporters yesterday.

29 Dec 2020; MEMO: Algerian MP Amira Selim has proposed a bill which prohibits the promotion of normalising ties with the Israeli occupation on mass media and alternative media, Safa news agency reported yesterday.

In an exclusive interview with Safa, the MP said that this bill reflects the vision of the Algerian institutions regarding the Palestinian cause as they reject all forms of normalisation.

Morocco and Israel on Monday discussed prospects for industrial cooperation and partnership in five sectors, an official said, Anadolu reports.

"This morning, I conducted remote discussions with my Israeli counterpart, Amir Peretz, on the prospects for bilateral industrial cooperation," Moroccan Industry Minister Moulay Hafid Elalamy tweeted.

The sectors identified include textiles, food industries, applied research in industry, green technologies, and renewable energy, he added.