Middle East & North Africa

Bangkok, Nov 28 (AP-PTI) Pro-democracy demonstrators in Thailand, undeterred by arrest warrants and the possibility of violent attacks, held another rally, poking fun at their critics and warning of the possibility of a military coup.

ISTANBUL, Nov 28 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkish police detained 79 suspects in nationwide operations, as part of terrorism-related investigations, media reported.

At least 25 people were apprehended by security forces over their suspected links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), in the western province of Izmir, north-western Balikesir, and southern Mersin.

Multiple digital materials and documents were also seized in the operations, according to the report.

ADDIS ABABA/NAIROBI (Reuters) - Ethiopian forces will take control of the Tigray region’s capital Mekelle in coming days, the military said late on Friday, a day after the Prime Minister announced the “final phase” of an offensive in the region.

Federal forces seized control of Wikro, a town 50 km (30 miles) north of Mekelle and “will control Mekelle in a few days”, Lieutenant-General Hassan Ibrahim said in a statement. Government troops had also taken control of several other towns, he said.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian president Hassan Rouhani on Saturday accused Israel of killing the country’s top nuclear scientist, believed by the West to be the architect of Tehran’s secret military nuclear programme.

Iran’s clerical and military rulers have threatened revenge for Friday’s killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, which could further increase tensions in the Middle East region and beyond.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Travel agencies in countries across the Middle East and Africa say the United Arab Emirates has temporarily halted issuing new visas to their citizens, a so-far unexplained ban on visitors amid both the coronavirus pandemic and the UAE’s normalization deal with Israel.

Confusion over the UAE visa ban targeting 11 Muslim-majority nations, in addition to Lebanon and Kenya, swirled after a leaked document from Dubai’s state-owned airport free zone surfaced this week, declaring restrictions against a range of nationalities.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Iranian scientist named by the West as the leader of the Islamic Republic’s disbanded military nuclear program was killed Friday in an ambush on the outskirts of Tehran, authorities said.

Tehran, Nov 27, IRNA - Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri said hard revenge is awaiting murderers of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Head of the Research and Innovation Organization of the Ministry of Defense.

In his message which was released on Friday, Baqeri said once again the cowardly blind terrorists affiliated with the Global Arrogance and the filthy Zionist regime of Israel in a savage act martyred one of the managers in science, research and defense field.  

Tehran, Nov 27, IRNA – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a Twitter message highlighted the role of Israeli regime’s role in assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Head of the Research and Innovation Organization of the Ministry of Defense.

“Terrorists murdered an eminent Iranian scientist today. This cowardice—with serious indications of Israeli role—shows desperate warmongering of perpetrators,” Zarif wrote in his Twitter account on Friday.

TEHRAN, Nov 27 (NNN-IRNA) — Iran’s Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said on Friday that some 406 more Iranians have died from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) over the past 24 hours.

The health ministry spokeswoman said that with the 406 new deaths the country’s total COVID-19 death toll mounted to 47,095.

Some 14,051 new cases of infection with the COVID-19 were found over the past 24 hours, some 2,245 of whom have been hospitalized, Sadat Lari said.

ADEN, Yemen (Reuters) - The Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi forces in Yemen carried out a series of air raids on barracks used by the Iran-aligned group in and around the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Friday, according to local residents.

There was no immediate word on possible casualties.

The reported air strikes came after a Houthi missile attack on Saudi oil facilities in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

Saudi-led coalition forces intervened in Yemen’s war in March 2015 to restore the Yemeni government ousted from power in Sanaa by the Houthis in late 2014.