Middle East & North Africa

ANKARA, March 7. /TASS/: Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has said that a Russian military delegation will arrive in Ankara next week to discuss joint patrols in Syria’s Idlib.

"On March 15, we will begin joint patrols of the M4 motorway. We started working on the principles of a safe corridor, which will be set up along the highway. A Russian military delegation will arrive in Ankara at the beginning of next week," Anadolu Agency quotes him as saying.

07 Mar 2020; MEMO: Turkey has given the world a lesson of humanity by opening its doors and being a safe haven for refugees, the country’s vice president said on Friday.

Speaking at an event in the southern Mersin province, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay strongly criticized Greece for its cruelty towards asylum seekers.

07 Mar 2020; MEMO: Israeli occupation authorities yesterday demolished all Palestinian homes in the Palestinian Bedouin village of Al-Araqeeb in the Negev for the 176th time.

The village was first levelled in July 2010, and every time the residents of Al-Araqeeb rebuild their tents and small homes, occupation forces return to raze them, sometime several times in a month.

Dubai, Mar 7 (PTI) An Indian national is among 15 new cases of the deadly coronavirus in the UAE, taking the total number of confirmed infections in the country to 45, health officials have said.

The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) on Friday said in a statement that 13 out of 15 new cases in the UAE recently arrived from abroad.

Mumbai, Mar 6 (PTI) The Civil Aviation Authority of Kuwait has lifted an order requiring medical certificates for Indians travelling to the country, according to a release.

The authority had made the requirement for nationals from 10 countries, including India, in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

In a release on Friday, Jazeera Airways said Kuwait has rolled back travel restrictions for Indian passengers.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said there had been no violations of the ceasefire in Syria’s Idlib, as part of the agreement with Russia, the defense ministry said on Saturday.

“We will continue to be a deterrent force to prevent any violation to the ceasefire. None occurred since ceasefire entered into force,” Akar said.

The ceasefire was reached in Moscow after talks to contain a conflict which has displaced nearly a million people in three months.

DUBAI (Reuters) - A senior member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Farhad Dabirian, was “martyred” in Syria on Friday, Fars news agency reported, without giving details of how he died.

The agency, which is close to the Revolutionary Guards, described Dabirian as a “defender of Sayida Zainab shrine,” the holy Shi’ite Muslim site south of Damascus, and as a former commander of the Guards in Palmyra, the ancient city in central Syria.

ISTANBUL, Mar 7 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said, he hopes that the cease-fire in the Syrian northwestern province of Idlib, reached between Turkey and Russia the previous day, would continue, putting an end to the conflict in Syria.

“Finally, we sat at the table yesterday and agreed on the declaration of a cease-fire as of midnight last night,” Erdogan said, after Friday prayers in Istanbul.

“We hope that it continues,” he stressed, noting that he also expects that the cease-fire would bring an end to the conflict.

TOKYO, Mar 7 (NNN-NHK) – Japan is planning to, at least, double its farm exports to two trillion yen (19 billion U.S. dollars) by 2025, the government said.

Following from its 2025 target, the country is then hoping to see its agriculture, fishery and forestry exports balloon to five trillion yen by 2030, the government said.

The government is planning to boost its farm exports to underpin its agricultural industries, that have suffered from a decline in domestic demand, which is inextricably linked to the nation’s shrinking population.

BEIRUT, Mar 7 (NNN-NNA) – French Ambassador to Lebanon, Bruno Foucher, said that, the government of Prime Minister Hassan Diab is the only chance for Lebanon, to solve its financial and economic crises.

“Paris decided to deal with Diab’s cabinet, as Lebanon is going through a very dangerous crisis, and the priority is to solve the country’s issues as soon as possible,” Foucher was quoted as saying.

Foucher said that French companies are looking forward to returning to work in Lebanon, in sectors, including oil and gas.