Middle East & North Africa

DUBAI, July 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The oil-rich United Arab Emirates has built a nuclear power programme and sent a man to space, and now plans to join another elite club by sending a probe to Mars.

Only the United States, India, the former Soviet Union, and the European Space Agency have successfully sent missions to orbit the Red Planet, while China is preparing to launch its first Mars rover later this month.

10 July 2020; MEMO:  Secretary-General of the Palestinian Fatah movement’s Central Committee, Jibril Al-Rajoub, described Israel’s annexation plan as “a declaration of war” that would change all rules of engagement.

10 July 2020; MEMO: Kuwaiti prosecutors on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for the son of a former prime minister and his partner amid a corruption probe of the so-called “Malaysian Sovereign Fund” case, Anadolu Agency reports.

10 July 2020; MEMO: Dozens of elements within the pro-regime National Defence Forces (NDF) have withdrawn from the Syrian army and joined Iranian militias “seeking higher salaries”, official sources reported yesterday.

“More than 70 members of the NDF have joined the Sheikh Akram militia, affiliated to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, in Syria’s Al-Bukamal city,” local media quoted the sources as saying.

10 July 2020; MEMO: Former Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia has said that he does not regret the decisions that he made when in office, and that he would do the same again if necessary. At all times, he insisted, he respected the law when making his decisions.

10 July 2020; MEMO: Another explosion has occurred in Iran’s capital Tehran according to the official IRIB news agency, in what is the latest in a string of similar incidents over the past few weeks.

The report, based on witness accounts, said some parts of the city experienced power-outages as a result of the blast, although no information on the cause has been released yet.

TEHRAN, July 9 (NNN-IRNA) – The U.S. military bases in Iraq will probably be shut down in the future, the Iranian ambassador to Iraq, Iraj Masjedi, was quoted as saying, by Tehran Times daily on Wednesday.

Masjedi made the remarks on Tuesday, about political developments in neighbouring Iraq.

He said, Iraq is currently seeking to create a balance between the “two main actors,” namely Iran and the United States, and is trying to “utilise capabilities of the two countries.”

Neither Iran nor the United States can be removed from Iraq, he added.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran on Thursday denied that U.S. forces had seized a boat carrying Iranian weapons to Houthi rebels in Yemen, saying the charge was aimed at extending a U.N. arms embargo on Tehran.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in Washington on Wednesday that U.S. and unidentified allied forces had interdicted a vessel off Yemen’s coast on June 28 that was carrying Iranian arms to the Houthis.

DUBAI/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria could face severe bread shortages for the first time since the start of the war, another challenge for President Bashar al-Assad as he grapples with an economic meltdown and fresh U.S. sanctions, a U.N. official, activists and farmers said.

Any major disruptions to Syria’s bread subsidy system could undermine the government and threaten a population highly dependent on wheat as rampant inflation drives up food prices.

09 July 2020; MEMO: Syria President Bashar Al-Assad has been shaken by meetings held by Russia with members of his Alawite community, NEWSru has revealed.

The Russian site reported the meetings were held at the headquarters of the Russian diplomatic mission to the United Nations in Geneva, with participants saying they had received death threats as a result of their participation in the talks.