Middle East & North Africa

02 Dec 2020; MEMO:  The conflict in Yemen has claimed 233,000 lives over the last six years, Anadolu reported the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) saying yesterday.

In a report about the situation in the war-torn country, the UNOCHA said: "This large number is unfortunate and unacceptable."

At the same time, it stressed that these people have lost their lives since the start of the war in Yemen either directly due to the conflict or for reasons related to it.

30 Nov 2020; AA:  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday received Ukraine’s prime minister in the Turkish capital Ankara, according to the presidency.

Erdogan received Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at the presidential complex, said the presidency.

“Happy to meet with President @RTErdogan, Turkey is one of Ukraine’s key partners and plays an important role in maintaining stability and security in the Black Sea region,” Shmyhal said on Twitter after the meeting.

01 Dec 2020; AA:  Discussions on technical details about the establishment and responsibilities of the Turkish-Russian Joint Center were completed and an agreement was signed, said Turkey's National Defense Ministry on Tuesday.

The ministry said on Twitter that necessary work is underway to make the center operate as soon as possible, reminding that on Nov. 11, a memorandum of understanding had been signed via video conference by Turkish and Russian defense ministers, Hulusi Akar and Sergey Shoigu.

30 Nov 2020; MEMO:  Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has left a German hospital where he was flown for treatment more than a month ago, and he will return home "in the coming days," the presidency said on Monday.

Tebboune, 75, who has tested positive for COVID-19, will continue "the rest of the recovery period" in Germany, it said in a statement.

30 Nov 2020; Israeli warplanes Monday violated the Lebanese airspace by flying over the capital Beirut and several areas of the country, reports Anadolu Agency.

Residents in Beirut and suburbs heard sonic booms created by the warplanes.

The Lebanese National News Agency said:

"Israeli enemy warplanes effectuated Monday intensive flights at medium and low altitudes above various Lebanese regions in the south, Metn, Jbeil, Keserwan, Hasbaya, and Beirut."

30 Nov 2020; Turkey will impose a weekday curfew and a full lockdown at weekends to combat the spread of the coronavirus, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday, after new cases and deaths hit record highs.

Citizens will not be allowed to leave home between 9 pm and 5 am on weekdays or at all at weekends, Erdogan said.

Some sectors, including supply chains and production, will be exempt from the measures which will begin on Tuesday, he said.

ANKARA, December 1. /TASS/: Turkey and Russia have concluded an agreement to set up a joint center for monitoring ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Turkish Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

"Negotiations have been completed on the technical details concerning the basics and principles of operation of a joint Turkish-Russian center. An agreement has been signed. The necessary work is underway for the center to go operational as soon as possible," the communique says.

The Turkish side did not disclose any details of the concluded agreement.

BAGHDAD, Dec 1 (NNN-NINA) – A commando force of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), conducted an operation against militants of the extremist Daesh group, in the southern part of the northern province of Nineveh, leaving six militants killed, the CTS said.

The CTS commandos, backed by U.S.-led international coalition aircraft, attacked a cave used by the militants in Makhmour Mountain, in the south of Nineveh’s provincial city of Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, The CTS said, in a statement.

01 Dec 2020; MEMO:  One of the large private hospitals in Egypt on Saturday announced the death of an Egyptian citizen after the deterioration of his health due to coronavirus, but the man was later found alive, RT reported.

The hospital declared the man was dead and called an ambulance to take him to his family in order for him to be buried.

30 Nov 2020; MEMO:  Israel Monday asked its diplomats at missions around the world to be "vigilant" after Iran accused Israel of killing Iran's top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, reports Anadolu Agency.