Middle East & North Africa

TEHRAN, June 19 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian foreign ministry on Friday condemned the anti-Iran resolution of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "unconstructive."

In a statement, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi dismissed "the political and non-technical resolution" of the IAEA, noting Iran has had the highest level of cooperation with the IAEA.

The issuance of the resolution is a "completely unconstructive and disappointing move," said Mousavi.

ANKARA, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Turkey and Italy will work together to maintain peace in Libya, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday.

Ankara wanted to work together with Rome for a lasting peace and a political process in Libya, as well as on meeting Libya's energy requirements such as electricity, Cavusoglu said at a joint press conference with his visiting Italian counterpart Luigi Di Maio.

The Italian minister, for his part, stressed that all the warring parties in Libya should respect the arms embargo and not deploy mercenaries.

(AP) --- The last of three large shipments of medical supplies landed in Yemen on Friday, organizers of the cargo flights said, following a joint initiative by the world organization and multinational corporations to boost the war-devastated country’s health care system as it battles the coronavirus.

19 June 2020; MEMO: The Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq accused the Iraqi government and Shabak militia Thursday of torturing prisoners in jails in Nineveh governorate, Anadolu reports.

“Detainees in the government’s and militia’s prisons in Iraq are subjected to heinous crimes that go against human nature,” the association’s general secretariat said in a statement.

19 June 2020; MEMO: Press sources revealed on Tuesday that they had detected an Israeli spy plane flying near the Tunisian shores.

The sources indicated that the plane from the Nachshon-Shavit intelligence unit had been launched from the Nevatim Air Force Base south of the country.

19 June 2020; MEMO: “The ongoing negotiations between Turkey and Russia on the Libyan file are based on the principles recognised by the High Council of State and the Government of National Accord (GNA),” the Chairman of the High Council of State, Khalid Al-Mishri, said on Wednesday.

The official added that there are ongoing and open talks between Turkey and Russia, adding that “we have clarified our principles that [renegade General] Khalifa Haftar will have no role in any way or at any stage”.

DAMASCUS, June 18 (Xinhua) -- The new set of U.S. sanctions under the so-called Caesar Act aims to change the behavior of the Syrian government, not the downfall of the administration of President Bashar al-Assad, an expert said.

On Wednesday, the United States announced massive sanctions against Syria, in an effort to further deprive the revenue of the Syrian government.

The latest sanctions involve 39 individuals and entities including President al-Assad and his wife, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced in a statement.

TRIPOLI, June 19 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Support Mission in Libyan (UNSMIL) on Thursday called for the release of a Libyan activist in the eastern city of Benghazi.

"UNSMIL expresses its dismay regarding the ongoing arrest and detention in Benghazi for the past week of Mr. Khalid Sakran apparently on account of his peace activism," UNSMIL tweeted.

FASAYIL, West Bank (AP) — For generations, the people of Fasayil herded animals on the desert bluffs and palm-shaded lowlands of the Jordan Valley. Today, nearly every man in the Palestinian village works for Jewish settlers in the sprawling modern farms to the north and south.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran said on Thursday its navy had successfully fired a new locally made cruise missile during war games in the northern Indian Ocean and near the entrance to the Gulf.

The test-firing comes as the United States is seeking an extension of a U.N.-imposed arms embargo against Iran, which is due to expire in October under Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Washington withdrew from that pact.