Middle East & North Africa

28 April 2020; MEMO: Three civilians were killed in Israeli strikes on areas surrounding Damascus yesterday, according to the official Syrian News Agency (SANA).

“Three civilians were killed and four others were injured, including a child, as a result of the fall of shrapnel from the Israeli aggressor missiles on the houses of residents in the towns of Al-Hujaira and Al-Adiliya in Damascus countryside,” reported SANA.

28 April 2020; MEMO: Israeli intelligence services threatened the Preacher of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, after raiding his house in occupied East Jerusalem.

The threat came after Sheikh Sabri said that he will reopen Al-Aqsa Mosque’s doors if occupation forces allowed settlers to storm the Muslim site.

Sheikh Sabri told Anadolu Agency: “Israeli intelligence forces came to my house and threatened me saying that they will hold me responsible for any tension in Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

28 April 2020; MEMO: The United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, has expressed concern over the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC)’s declaration of autonomy in the southern provinces including the strategic city of Aden on Sunday.

ABU DHABI, Apr 28 (NNN-WAM) – Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and Hishamuddin Hussein, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia, today discussed, in a Video Conference call, ties of friendship and joint cooperation between the UAE and Malaysia.

Sheikh Abdullah extended greetings on the occasion of the Holy Month of Ramadan to the King of Malaysia, Al-Sultan Abdullah ibni Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, Hishamuddin and to the people of Malaysia.

ISTANBUL, Apr 28 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared three days of lock-down in 31 provinces, starting from May 1, to curb the spread of COVID-19.

After attending a video cabinet meeting from Istanbul, Erdogan said, weekend curfews would continue until the end of Eid al-Fitr, a Muslim feast marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, in late May.

BEIRUT, Apr 28 (NNN-NNA) – Lebanese Energy and Water Minister, Raymond Ghajar, said on Monday that, drilling results in Block 4 of Lebanon’s territorial waters, proved the presence of gas in the geological region, bordering the Lebanese coast, it was reported.

“This region is promising, since the basic elements of a geo-petroleum system were confirmed, in the Lebanese sea, but the existence of a gas reservoir was not verified,” Ghajar said, during a press conference, to give updates on gas exploration in Lebanon.

SANAA, April 27 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, on Monday expressed concerns over the declaration of self-rule by the Yemeni Southern Transitional Council (STC) in the southern port city of Aden.

"Now, more than ever, all political actors must cooperate in good faith, refrain from taking escalation actions, and put the interests of Yemenis first," Griffiths said in a statement.

He called for "expediting the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement, with the support of the coalition led by Saudi Arabia."

ADEN, Apr 28 (NNN-SABA) – Yemen’s Ministry of Health announced that the first and only confirmed case of COVID-19 has recovered, in the eastern province of Hadramout.

The pro-government ministry announced officially in a statement “the recovery of the only case of COVID-19, registered previously in the port city of Ash Shihr in the country’s eastern province of Hadramout.”

The ministry’s statement confirmed that “the results of all the medical and clinical examinations carried out on the patient and his relatives were negative.”

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — In a Dubai industrial park, workers weld, drill and build what one entrepreneur sees as key to the near future of this desert city-state amid the coronavirus pandemic: disinfection gates.

Husam Zammar’s company builds such gates for government and commercial clients. He believes the new safety measures will find wide acceptance, just as metal detectors did after the 9/11 terror attacks. “If we consider two people, one has a knife and one has coronavirus, the second one is a hundred times dangerous than the first one,” he said.

27 April 2020; MEMO: Two banks in southern, and two in northern Lebanon were damaged in separate attacks over the weekend, as public anger grows over the country’s economic crisis.

A Fransabank branch in Sidon was assailed with a homemade bomb late on Saturday night, while a Credit Libanais building in Tyre was attacked with Molotov cocktails in the early hours of yesterday.