Middle East & North Africa

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli cabinet minister tendered his resignation on Sunday in protest at a looming coronavirus lockdown that he argued would unfairly impede religious celebrations of Jewish holidays.

The restrictions - the most extensive Israel will have imposed since a lockdown that ran from late March to early May - are expected to go into effect on Friday, the Jewish new year Rosh Hashana, and span into the Yom Kippur fast day on Sept 27.

DAMASCUS, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Fifty truckloads of military gears and logistic supplies for the U.S.-led coalition entered Syria from Iraq on Saturday, a war monitor reported.

The convoy entered through the al-Walid crossing and headed to the bases of the U.S.-led coalition in the countryside of the northeastern province of Hasakah, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The UK-based watchdog group said the shipment is the latest to reach the U.S. bases in Hasakah. On Aug. 29, 50 truckloads of military gears already reached these bases.

ISTANBUL, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday warned French counterpart Emmanuel Macron over the latter's opposition to Turkey's maritime activities in the Eastern Mediterranean.

"Don't mess with Turkey and Turkish nation," Erdogan was quoted by the official Anadolu Agency as telling Macron in a speech to a symposium held in Istanbul.

"You cannot lecture us on humanity," Erdogan said, recalling the "massacres" conducted by France in Algeria and Rwanda that killed a large number of people.

13 Sep 2020; MEMO: Jordan announced today that necessary steps to achieve a fair peace should come from Israel after Bahrain and Israel announced a normalisation deal, Anadolu Agency reports.

Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Israel should stop procedures to undermine the two-state solution and end its illegal occupation of Palestinian lands.

13 Sep 2020; MEMO: The UAE reported 1,007 new coronavirus cases, the country’s Health Ministry said on Saturday, the highest daily spike since the first case was reported in the country, Anadolu Agency reported.

The total number of cases has rose to 78,849, including 68,983 recoveries, a ministry statement said.

It added that at least one more fatality was reported over the past day, bringing the country’s death toll to 339.

13 Sep 2020; MEMO: The Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called on Germany, France and the UK to stand against “US economic terrorism” if they want “full implementation of the nuclear agreement”.

Zarif tweeted: “Iran rejects nuclear weapons for religious and strategic reasons,” noting that they are “much more important than any deal”.

13 Sep 2020; MEMO: Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi on Friday said he considered the normalisation agreement between Israel and Bahrain a step toward peace in the region, Anadolu Agency reports.

NICOSIA, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Visiting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Saturday that the United States is "deeply concerned" over Turkey's gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean amid growing tensions between Turkey, Cyprus and Greece.

"We remain deeply concerned by Turkey's ongoing operations surveying for natural resources in areas over which Greece and Cyprus assert jurisdiction in the Eastern Mediterranean," Pompeo said at a joint press conference with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades.

13 Sep 2020; MEMO: Recalling France’s massacres in Algeria and Rwanda, the Turkish president said the French president “cannot lecture us on humanity”, Anadolu Agency reported.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s remarks came at a symposium held on Democracy and Freedom Island against coup.

In a direct reference to President Emmanuel Macron, Erdogan said “You [Macron] have no knowledge of history. You do not know the history of France.”

13 Sep 2020; MEMO: Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari was executed on Saturday morning in a case that sparked international outcry from human rights groups and sports bodies, Anadolu Agency reports.

Afkari, 27, was accused of stabbing to death an employee of a local civic body in southwestern Shiraz city during anti-government protests in 2018.