Middle East & North Africa

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will speak with leaders of the United States, France, Germany and Britain, following an air strike that killed 33 Turkish soldiers in Syria’s Idlib region, a Turkish official was quoted as saying on Friday.

Turkey’s Communications Director Fahrettin Altun was also quoted by broadcaster NTV as saying Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed during a phone call to meet face to face as soon as possible.

28 Feb 2020; MEMO: In a major international survey, only 37 per cent of Israelis said human rights groups should be able to operate freely, as reported by the Times of Israel.

28 Feb 2020; MEMO: Kuwait confirmed two more cases of the new coronavirus today, taking the toll to 45, according to its Health Ministry.

“The two cases were in contact with the infected people who came from Iran before the outbreak was announced,” the ministry said.

The ministry asserted stable health conditions of all cases and “efficiency of medical staff dealing with them at three medical quarantine centers.”

28 Feb 2020; MEMO: Israel is reported to have assassinated a senior Hezbollah leader yesterday near the village of Hader, near Quneitra, in the Syrian Golan Heights.

Syria’s official news agency, SANA, reported that a “civilian” was killed in an Israeli drone strike on his car in Quneitra, southern Syria.

However, opposition media reported that the target was Hezbollah leader, Emad Al-Tawil, the group’s foreign operations chief.

28 Feb 2020; MEMO: The Palestinian-led boycott movement has slammed a motion passed by the Austrian parliament that singles out the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign for criticism.

TEHRAN, Feb 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Iran has no plans to quarantine any cities and towns despite the spread of the new coronavirus outbreak across the country, President Hassan Rouhani has said.

He told a cabinet meeting that health authorities would continue to “only quarantine individuals”.

Officials have asked people not to go to Qom, the centre of the outbreak, but have not shut a shrine in the city that attracts millions of Shia pilgrims.

Iran has reported 139 cases and 26 deaths in the past week.

ANKARA, Feb 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least 33 Turkish soldiers have been killed in an air raid by Syrian government forces in the northwestern Idlib province, the governor in the southeastern province of Hatay said early on Friday, raising an earlier death toll, while also threatening an escalation of conflict and another refugee crisis.

DAMASCUS, Feb 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least three Syrian soldiers were wounded by Israeli helicopter fire near the annexed Golan Heights late Thursday, the official SANA agency reported.

“Israeli helicopters launched missiles above the occupied Golan Heights, hitting (Syrian) army positions at Kahtaniyeh, Al-Horiyyat and the liberated town of Quneitra, leaving three wounded among the troops,” SANA said.

It comes after a Syrian linked to the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah was killed in a cross-border Israeli drone strike earlier Thursday, a war monitor said.

ADEN, Yemen, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- A prisoner swap between pro-government Yemeni forces and Houthi militia took place on Thursday in the country's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, a military official told Xinhua.

According to the military source who asked to remain anonymous, "two pro-government soldiers were set free in exchange for the release of three Houthi rebels from the jail manned by the government forces in Hodeidah."

HATAY, Turkey, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- As Russian-backed Syrian attacks are prompting a refugee exodus in Idlib province, the last rebel-stronghold of the war-torn Syria, Turkish officials are wary of a new humanitarian crisis unfolding at their country's sealed gates.

"It seems like there are around 1.5 million people who are near our borders. Turkey is currently not allowing any entry and we are supporting this position," Lutfu Savas, major of Turkey's Hatay province, located on the Syrian border, told Xinhua in an interview.