Middle East & North Africa

TRIPOLI, June 11 (NNN-Xinhua) — Dozens of mass graves have been found in the Libyan city of Tarhuna, some 90 km south of Tripoli, Interior Minister of the UN-backed government of Libya Fathi Bashagha said.

“We discovered many terrible crimes committed by the militias that controlled the city of Tarhuna. Our services are now documenting those crimes,” Bashagha said in a statement.

Before the UN-backed government took control of it, Tarhuna was the main military operation center for the east-based army.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi militia factions expected the usual cash handout when the new head of Iran’s expeditionary Quds Force made his first visit to Baghdad earlier this year, succeeding the slain Gen. Qassim Soleimani. Instead, to their disappointment, Esmail Ghaani brought them silver rings.

For his second visit, Ghaani had to apply for a visa, something unheard of in Soleimani’s time — a bold step by Baghdad’s new government effectively curtailing Iran’s freedom of movement inside Iraq.

10 June 2020; MEMO: Prosecutors in Israel have asked for the heaviest possible sentence for a Jewish settler convicted of killing a Palestinian couple and their baby in an arson attack that also left their four-year-old son scarred for life, the Times of Israel has reported.

10 June 2020; MEMO: The fishing industry in Gaza has declined 50 per cent due to Israel’s continuous bullying of fishermen, Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported the head of the Palestinian Workers’ Union in Gaza saying.

Sami Al-Amasi said that the outbreak of the coronavirus added to the losses.

He noted that there are 4,000 fishermen in Gaza, who take care of 24,000 families, adding that this fishing season has been one of the worst for years.

10 June 2020; MEMO: Turkish authorities yesterday ordered the arrest of 275 military personnel on suspicion of having links to US based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen whom Ankara accuses of planning the failed coup of 2016.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran on Wednesday called on Russia and China to resist a push by Washington to extend a U.N.-imposed arms embargo due to expire in October under Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with six powers.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has been taking a harder line with the United Nations to extend and strengthen the embargo on Iran, warning that its lifting would let Tehran acquire weapons that could fuel conflicts in the Middle East.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey on Wednesday dismissed Egypt’s proposal for a ceasefire in Libya, saying the plan aimed to save Khalifa Haftar after the collapse of his offensive to control the capital Tripoli, Hurriyet newspaper reported.

Turkey supports Fayez al Serraj’s internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), whose forces have in recent weeks repelled a 14-month assault on Tripoli by Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA), backed by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia.

ANKARA, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday announced further easing of the restrictions against the COVID-19 pandemic as Turkey has entered a normalization process.

"It is a fact that we have survived with the least loss of lives, restrictions, and economic difficulties compared to Europe," Erdogan said at a press conference after a cabinet meeting.

"I want to remind you of the fact that we need to organize our lives with masks, distance and hygiene until the root (of the virus) is scraped," he added.

LONDON, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Large-scale lockdowns and other non-pharmaceutical intervention in 11 European countries may have helped avert approximately 3.1 million deaths as the measures successfully curbed the novel coronavirus transmission, according to a new study released by the Imperial College London.

From March 2 to 29, European countries began implementing major non-pharmaceutical methods, such as school closures and national lockdowns, to control the COVID-19 pandemic.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — As tensions remain high between Iran and the U.S., the Islamic Republic appears to have constructed a new mock-up of an aircraft carrier off its southern coast for potential live-fire drills.

The faux foe, seen in satellite photographs obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, resembles the Nimitz-class carriers that the U.S. Navy routinely sails into the Persian Gulf from the Strait of Hormuz, its narrow mouth where 20% of all the world’s oil passes through.