Middle East & North Africa

DUBAI (Reuters) - Emirates, one of the world’s biggest long-haul airlines, laid off more pilots and cabin crew on Tuesday as it manages a cash crunch caused by the global coronavirus pandemic, and plans thousands of additional job cuts, five company sources said.

Aviation is one of the industries worst hit by the outbreak, which has dented travel demand and forced major airlines to lay off staff and seek government bailouts.

09 June 2020; MEMO: Iran yesterday rejected US President Donald Trump’s call to renegotiate a better nuclear deal, describing the offer as “nothing but political showboating”, Iran’s IRNA news agency reported.

“The U.S. government knows what to do to achieve any successful diplomacy with Iran,” Ali Rabiei, spokesman for Iran’s government, said in a televised news conference. “They have to rebuild everything they have destroyed unilaterally.”

09 June 2020; MEMO: Israeli Defence Ministry Benny Gantz is set to visit Jordan amid rising tensions between the two countries over plans to annex areas of the occupied West Bank and the strategic Jordan Valley, according to a report by London-based Arabic language news outlet Rai Al-Youm.

The report was also picked up by Israel’s Channel 12, which reported Gantz’s trip could involve an audience with King Abdullah II and a visit to the Jordanian capital, Amman.

09 June 2020; MEMO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that the situation in the north-west Syrian province of Idlib is progressing and improving, despite increased assaults on opposition positions by the Assad regime.

In an interview on the Turkish channel TRT News yesterday, Erdogan said: “Sometimes problems arise in Idlib on the M4 highway, but in general, things are going well. 200,000 refugees have already returned home.”

09 June 2020; MEMO: The Yemeni army carried out an attack on sites belonging to the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) on the outskirts of the city of Zanzibar, the capital of Abyan Governorate, south of Yemen, and seized Emirati weapons.

A video recording showed commander of the Special Security Forces, Colonel Muhammad Al-Auban, standing next to one of the thermal rockets that were seized from the Security Belt camp on the outskirts of Zanzibar.

09 June 2020; MEMO: Iranian scientist Majid Taheri has returned home following his release from the US, where he was imprisoned for more than 16 months.

Taheri, who was a long-time Florida resident, was jailed after allegedly violating US sanctions on Iran; he has denied all charges, according to PressTV.

09 June 2020; MEMO: The United States special envoy to Syria, James Jeffrey, announced on Sunday that Washington offered to get Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad out of his crisis.

Jeffrey explained that the collapse of the Syrian pound’s value is in part due to the measures taken by the United States against the regime.

TRIPOLI, June 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Libya’s resurgent UN-recognised government has said it will defy any Russian warnings and press ahead with the capture of at least two more strategic sites in the west of Libya, with the aim of preventing Russia from setting up an airbase in the country.

It made the announcement as oil production restarted in Libya after being shut down since January.

ANKARA, June 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he reached “some agreements” with US counterpart Donald Trump over Libya during telephone talks.

Ankara supports Libya’s UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) and has stepped up military support to Tripoli against warlord Khalifa Haftar.

The United States officially backs the GNA, but Haftar is supported by Washington’s allies Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

DAMASCUS, June 9 (NNN-SANA) – At least 41 Syrian soldiers and rebels were killed on Monday, during a showdown in the country’s central province of Hama.

The rebels launched an offensive using suicide bombers and booby-trapped vehicles, in the northern part of the al-Ghab Plains, in the northwestern countryside of Hama Province.

The rebels captured two military points in that area, before the Syrian army succeeded in returning them, following clashes with the rebels.