Middle East & North Africa

JERUSALEM/DAMASCUS, Aug 4 (NNN-XINHUA) – Israeli helicopters fired missiles on Syrian military positions, in the southern province of Quneitra, Monday, according to Israel’s military and Syrian state news agency SANA.

Israel’s military said, last night it carried out airstrikes against targets belonging to the Syrian army, saying, the attack was a response to “attempted attack” a day earlier.

The attack in southern Syria was carried out by Israeli fighter jets, attack helicopters and aircraft, according to a separate statement issued by the Israeli military.

BEIRUT, Aug 4 (NNN-NNA) – Newly-appointed Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Charbel Wehbi, emphasised the need for Lebanon to strengthen ties with all friendly countries, to get out of its crisis, local media reported.

“Lebanon has friendly ties with countries that are still effective in the international arena,” Wehbi was quoted as saying, by Elnashra, an online independent newspaper.

Wehbi did not rule out future visits to Syria, to achieve some goals for his country.

“We should be open to visit any Arab country,” he said.

DUBAI (Reuters) - A fire broke out at an Iranian industrial area near Tehran on Tuesday, Iran’s state TV reported, the latest in a string of fires and explosions, some of which have hit sensitive sites.

“The fire broke out at the industrial area of the Jajrud district in the Pardis county this morning ... there were no casualties ... firefighters are trying to contain the fire,” it said.

A fire department official told state TV that the cause of the fire was under investigation.

JERUSALEM, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that his plan to annex portions of the Israeli-occupied West Bank "isn't off the table" yet.

"The issue of West Bank annexation resides with Washington," he told a meeting of his right-wing Likud faction. "It is not yet off the table. The option still remains," he said.

BASRA, Iraq (AP) — In Iraq’s oil-rich south, the scorching summer months pose painful new choices in the age of the coronavirus: stay at home in the sweltering heat with electricity cut off for hours, or go out and risk the virus.

This is Zain al-Abidin’s predicament. A resident of al-Hartha district, in Basra province, al-Abidin lost his job due to pandemic-related restrictions. During the day he listens helplessly to his four-month old daughter cry in the unbearable heat, too poor to afford private generators to offset up to eight-hour power cuts.

RAMALLAH, Aug 3 (NNN-WAFA) – Palestine welcomed a letter, signed by European Union diplomats, to protest against Israel’s construction plans in an East Jerusalem area, urging the EU’s “actionable decisions.”

On July 31, representatives and ambassadors of 15 European countries, sent a protest letter to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, on the government’s decision to start the construction in the settlement of Givat Hamatos.

03 Aug 2020; MEMO: Palestinian authorities on Sunday began distributing meat from livestock sacrificed with donations from Turkey on the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival to hundreds of families in need in the Gaza Strip, reported Anadolu Agency.

During the four-day holiday, the Ministry of Foundations and Religious Affairs aims to provide as many as 4,500 families with meat, Eshref Ismail, the director of the projects department at the ministry, told Anadolu Agency.

Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti resigned on Monday over what he described as a lack of political will to reform as his nation wrestles with a financial crisis posing the biggest threat to stability since a 1975-1990 civil war.

Foreign donors have made it clear there will be no aid until Beirut enacts long-stalled reforms to tackle state waste and corruption, root causes of the collapse. Talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have been put on hold amid a row over the scale of financial losses.

03 Aug 2020; MEMO: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu struck back on Sunday at demonstrations calling for his resignation, accusing protesters of trampling democracy and the Israeli media of encouraging them.

Netanyahu, who was sworn in for a fifth term in May after an election, has often complained of press bias against him, and some of the charges he faces in a corruption trial related to alleged attempts to seek favourable coverage from media barons in return for state favours

JERUSALEM, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Israel's army said on Sunday its troops attacked a "terror squad" that attempted to plant explosive devices near the disputed border between Syria and Israel.

A military spokesperson said in a statement that the incident took place late on Sunday night near the Alpha Line between Syria and Israel.

"Soldiers thwarted an attempt to place improvised explosive devices (IEDs,)" the spokesperson said.

The Israeli troops spotted a "terror squad" of four fighters placing explosive devices adjacent to the security fence, near an IDF post.