Middle East & North Africa

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Saeb Erekat, 65, one of the most experienced and high-profile spokesmen for the Palestinian cause over decades of dispute with Israel, died on Tuesday after contracting COVID-19, his family said. He was 65.

“With hearts full of sorrow and pain, and with patience, Erekat’s clan everywhere mourns to the Palestinian Arab people and to the Arab and Muslim nation Saeb Erekat,” his extended family clan posted on Facebook.

AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordanians began voting on Tuesday in elections set to keep parliament in the hands of tribal and pro-government deputies under a system that under-represents the cities where the Islamist and liberal opposition do best.

A handful of people lined up outside polling stations in several Jordanian towns before polls opened across the kingdom at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT), witnesses said.

Across the country, banners of around 1,700 candidates fluttered from signposts appealing to 4.64 million eligible voters on mostly tribal and family loyalty.

TEHRAN, Nov 9 (NNN-IRNA) – The Iranian Foreign Ministry, yesterday called for cessation of the U.S. economic pressures against the country.

The U.S. administration “must make up for its past measures and stop its economic war against the Islamic Republic,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh, told Iran’s state TV.

“We are waiting for practical steps” to be taken by the United States, said Khatibzadeh, adding that, Washington should commit its international obligations.

DAMASCUS, Nov 9 (NNN-SANA) – Four U.S. soldiers were killed yesterday, by an explosive device in the countryside of Syria’s north-eastern province of Hasakah.

The explosive device tore through a U.S. military vehicle, in the village of Markadeh, on the Hasakah-Deir al-Zour road, said the report.

It added that a translator was among the slain soldiers.

Following the explosion, the U.S. forces cordoned off the area, amid the flight of U.S. warplanes in the area.

The slain soldiers were taken to a U.S. base in the Shaddadi area, in the Hasakah countryside.

BAGHDAD, Nov 9 (NNN-NINA) – Iraqi security forces, yesterday launched a major offensive, to hunt down Daesh militants in a mountainous area, in the northern part of Iraq’s Salahudin province.

Iraqi forces, backed by U.S.-led coalition and Iraqi aircraft, began an offensive in the morning, to track down the militants in the mountain ranges of Makhoul and Khanogah, the media office of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC), said in a statement.

09 Nov 2020; MEMO: Iraqi Minister of Transport, Nasser Al-Shibli, said yesterday that Chinese companies have been providing services with regards to the implementation of the Al-Faw Grand Port project in the southern governorate of Basra.

“The ministry is continuing to negotiate with the South Korean Daewoo company regarding Al-Faw Grand Port project,” Al-Shibli said in a statement, adding that Daewoo has two contracts with the port which expire in 2021.

09 Nov 2020; MEMO: The first flight operated by Dubai airline FlyDubai landed in Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday, according to Israeli media, Anadolu reports.

The state-owned Israeli KAN channel released a video of the Emirati flight landing at the airport.

According to FlyDubai, owned by Dubai government, the carrier will operate two flights daily between Dubai and Tel Aviv as of Nov. 26.

09 Nov 2020; MEMO: Kuwait’s government is seeking to stop state sector employment in the coming five years and encourage private sector employment, the New Khaleej reported yesterday.

An official document stated that the new plan comes as part of the economic reforms programme.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahrain’s government approved on Monday a memorandum of understanding with Israel, covering air services, the state-run agency of the Gulf country said.

Bahrain and Israel signed in October a joint communique to formalise nascent ties, during a visit by an Israeli and U.S. delegation to the Gulf country.

09 Nov 2020; MEMO: Turkey shared in-depth information about the Daesh terrorist responsible for the recent gun attack in Vienna with Austrian authorities in 2019, security officials said on Sunday, Anadolu reports.

The terrorist, Austrian national Kujtim Fejzulai, was monitored via security surveillance on Sept 1, 2018, when he arrived at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport from Vienna, Turkey’s General Directorate of Security said in a statement.