Middle East & North Africa

29 April 2020; MEMO: More than 216,000 displaced Syrians moved back to the war-torn governorates of Idlib and Aleppo in the north of Syria since the announcement of a Turkish-Russian ceasefire on 6 March, Anadolu Agency reported yesterday.

According to an activist involved in the coordination of the return of the displaced in the north of Syrian, Anadolu said that more than a million Syrians fled Idlib and its surroundings due to the regime’s attack on the area in November.

27 April 2020; MEMO: The Chairman of Sudan’s Sovereignty Council has revealed that Ethiopian forces and militias have seized a large part of his country’s territory along the border.

“There are old problems. Herders have lost their livestock and farmers have lost their lands. The armed forces had nothing to do but to protect them because the Ethiopians imposed their presence,” explained Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan in an interview broadcast on Saturday on official Sudanese TV.

ISTANBUL, Apr 29 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkey’s national flag carrier, Turkish Airlines (THY), announced on Tuesday, it extended the suspension of all its domestic and international flights until May 28, over COVID-19 concern.

THY said, in an announcement posted on its website, that, “all flights have been suspended until May 28, to protect public health against the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Bilal Eksi, CEO of the company, called on passengers to be “a little more patient, to win the fight against the virus,” on his Twitter account.

CAIRO, Apr 29 (NNN-MENA) – Egypt witnessed a record of daily fatalities of COVID-19 with 22 new deaths on Tuesday, bringing the death toll in the country to 359.

The Egyptian Health Ministry also confirmed 260 new infections, raising the total COVID-19 cases registered in Egypt to 5,042.

Khaled Megahed, the health ministry’s spokesman, said, 68 patients were completely cured and discharged from hospitals, increasing total recoveries to 1,304.

DAMASCUS, Apr 29 (NNN-SANA) – An explosive device tore through a vehicle in Syria’s northern city of Afrin on Tuesday, after 40 died in the first explosion that rocked the city earlier in the day, a war monitor reported.

The second explosion occurred in the Mahmoudiyeh neighbourhood in the city, leaving unknown losses, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Earlier on Tuesday, 40 people, including 11 children and six pro-Turkey fighters, were killed, when an explosive device ripped through an oil tanker in Afrin, according to the Observatory.

29 April 2020; AFP: A fuel truck bomb in a market in northern Syria killed at least 46 people including Turkish-backed rebel fighters on Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The blast in Afrin, a city controlled by Ankara's proxies, came as people went shopping in preparation to break the Ramadan fast, according to the US State Department, which condemned the attack as a "cowardly act of evil".

CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s cabinet has urged Yemen’s main separatist group, which has declared self-rule in the south, to abide by an agreement to end a previous standoff with the Saudi-backed government.

The declaration by the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) on Sunday, which included emergency rule in southern regions, threatens to renew conflict with the government.

28 April 2020; MEMO: Iran has welcomed the Saudi-led coalition’s decision to extend the ceasefire in Yemen during the month of Ramadan, calling for comprehensive planning for peace and security in the war- torn country, Iranian IRNA news agency reported.

28 April 2020; MEMO: A leader in the UAE-backed Yemeni Southern Transitional Council (STC) said yesterday that the council will never reverse its declaration of autonomous rule over a number of southern provinces including the strategic city of Aden, Anadolu Agency reported.

28 April 2020; MEMO: The Arab League will on Thursday hold an urgent virtual meeting to discuss Israeli plans to annex illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, Wafa News Agency reported yesterday.

In a statement, Assistant Secretary General of the Arab League, Hossam Zaki, said that the meeting will discuss various ways of providing political, legal and financial support to the Palestinian leadership to confront the Israeli plans.