Middle East & North Africa

BEIRUT (AP) — A team of French investigators will come to Beirut next month to participate in interrogating former Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn, a Lebanese justice ministry official said Saturday.

The official gave no specific date or details of what information the investigators would seek from Ghosn.

Former auto executive Ghosn, who is a Lebanese, Brazilian and French national, fled Japan in a dramatic escape that drew headlines last year, arriving in Lebanon on Dec. 30, 2019.

26 Dec 2020; MEMO: The Iraqi Defence Ministry announced on Friday that an explosive device detonated on a convoy of Iraqi trucks carrying supplies for the US-led international coalition on Al-Diwaniyah highway, south of the country, Anadolu Agency reported.

The ministry's media department disclosed that the explosion wounded a driver, causing damage to his vehicle.

26 Dec 2020; MEMO: Egyptian rights groups and activists on Friday launched a campaign calling for Egyptian authorities to release student Khaled Sahloub, who has been in jail since 2014 over possessing a camera, Anadolu Agency reported.

Sahloub was a university media student who worked as a freelance photographer and sold his work to several news outlets, including Al Jazeera.

26 Dec 2020; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Friday with Morocco's King Mohammed VI and invited him to visit Israel, Netanyahu's office said.

The two leaders spoke about moving forward with a US-brokered agreement announced earlier this month to normalise bilateral ties, according to the Israeli statement.

Netanyahu also thanked King Mohammed for hosting an official Israeli delegation this week.

26 Dec 2020; MEMO: The Moroccan authorities have strongly condemned Human Rights Watch's use of the human rights file to deliver its political position on Western Sahara, reported RT.

26 Dec 2020; MEMO: Lebanese Hezbollah warned on Friday that the possibility of war with Israel still exists, confirming that the probability: "Stems from a sense of responsibility, not to provoke terror and panic among people."

This came in statements issued by Head of Hezbollah's executive council Hashem Safi Al-Din, reported by the Lebanese El-Nashra news agency.

26 Dec 2020; MEMO: The Tunisian authorities announced on Friday the extension of the state of emergency throughout the country for an additional six months.

According to a statement by the Tunisian presidency, the state of emergency will be extended from 26 December to 23 June, 2021.

22 Dec 2020; MEMO: Security sources in Sudan said on Monday that the army has retaken three towns from Ethiopian militias. The Sudanese troops apparently entered the Khurshid region, which has been under the control of the militias for 21 years, Al Arabiya TV channel has reported.

21 Dec 2020; MEMO: The Istanbul-Tehran-Islamabad (ITI) train is expected to resume operations next year after the key requirements for the revival of the service have been completed, according to Adil Karaismailoglu, Turkey's minister of transport and infrastructure, local media reported.

DAMASCUS, Dec 26 (NNN-SANA) – A total of six pro-government fighters were killed, during an Israeli strike that targeted positions in central Syria after midnight, a war monitor reported.

The Israeli missile strike targeted defence factories, where a scientific research centre is located, in the city of Masyaf, in the west of Hama province, in central Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Britain-based watchdog group said, the strike destroyed weapon depots run by Iranian fighters.