Middle East & North Africa

ANKARA (Reuters) -President Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey would like to have better ties with Israel, but criticised Israeli policy toward Palestinians as “unacceptable” and a “red line” for Ankara, adding that intelligence talks resumed between the two sides.

The two countries have had a bitter falling out in recent years, despite strong commercial ties, expelling ambassadors in 2018. Ankara has repeatedly condemned Israel’s occupation in the West Bank and its treatment of Palestinians.

25 Dec 2020; MEMO: A spokesperson for the Tunis court announced on Thursday that the court had issued an arrest warrant for the Heart of Tunisia party leader, Nabil Karoui, on financial corruption charges.

Spokesman Mohsen Al-Dali revealed that the arrest warrant was issued against the businessman in a money laundering case, without disclosing further details.

25 Dec 2020; MEMO: Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita revealed information about the peace agreement between his country and Israel during an interview with Israeli channel i24 News.

Bourita stated that the normalisation talks with Israel started in 2018, and that the key player in supporting this process was King Mohammed VI.

25 Dec 2020; MEMO: Iran has won US approval to transfer funds for coronavirus vaccines from overseas, the central bank chief said on Thursday, as its daily death toll fell to a three-month low, Reuters reports.

Central Bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said an Iranian bank had received approval from the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control to transfer the money to a Swiss bank to pay for the vaccines.

ANKARA, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- Turkey on Thursday detained at least 34 Islamic State (IS) suspects in two separate anti-terror operations in eastern Van and southern Adana provinces, semi-official Anadolu Agency reported.

The counter-terrorism police and the intelligence officers conducted an operation in the eastern Van province and detained 31 IS suspects with many organization-related documents and digital materials, anonymous security officials told the agency.

DAMASCUS, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Syrian air defenses responded to a fresh Israeli missile attack that targeted the western Masyaf area in Hama Governorate after midnight Thursday, Syrian state TV reported.

The TV aired footage of the air defenses intercepting Israeli missiles in the sky over Masyaf.

The Syrian army said in a statement that the Israeli missile attack was launched from the Libyan capital city of Tripoli towards Masyaf, adding that the Syrian air defenses intercepted most of the missiles.

CAIRO, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- Iran said on Thursday that it has allocated funds to buy COVID-19 vaccines from abroad as the obstacles created by U.S. sanctions have been removed. Meanwhile, Kuwait kicked off its national vaccination campaign.

Iranian Central Bank Governor Abdolnasser Hemmati said that Iran has allocated 200 million euros (243.73 million U.S. dollars) for importing the vaccines.

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Bethlehem on Thursday ushered in Christmas Eve with a stream of joyous marching bands and the triumphant arrival of the top Catholic clergyman in the Holy Land, but few people were there to greet them as the coronavirus pandemic and a strict lockdown dampened celebrations in the traditional birthplace of Jesus.

Similar subdued scenes were repeated across the world as the festive family gatherings and packed prayers that typically mark the holiday were scaled back or canceled altogether.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia’s military killed 42 armed men accused of attacking a village in the western Benishangul-Gumuz region, state-affiliated Fana TV reported on Thursday, as the government sent in more troops to contain ethnic tensions.

Government forces seized bows and arrows and other weapons from the armed men, Fana said in its report that cited unnamed regional officials. It did not say when the clash took place or which group was involved.

SINJAR, Iraq (AP) — One by one, the flags belonging to a patchwork of armed forces were lowered in a northern Iraqi town once brutalized by the Islamic State group. The territorial claims symbolized by each were replaced by the fluttering of just one: The Iraqi state’s.

The hoisting of the national flag in Sinjar, home to Iraq’s Yazidi religious minority, is the result of a deal months in the making for the federal government to restore order from a tangled web of paramilitaries, who sowed chaos in the district during the bedlam following liberation from IS three years ago.