Middle East & North Africa

05 Feb 2020; MEMO: The government of Iraq and the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan have reached an agreement on Erbil’s contribution to the 2020 federal budget, state news agency INA reported on Wednesday.

The deal includes a transfer of 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) from the oil-producing region to Iraq’s national budget, Kurdistan regional government (KRG) spokesman Jotiar Adil was quoted as saying.

Iraq’s 2020 federal budget is currently under discussion in parliament.

05 Feb 2020; MEMO: The United States yesterday condemned the Syrian regime’s mortar attack against Turkish forces in Idlib province, Anadolu reported.

“We stand by our NATO ally Turkey against these actions, send condolences to the Turkish government on the deaths of their people and fully support Turkey’s justified self-defence actions in response,” Anadolu quoted an unnamed State Department spokeswoman saying.

“We are consulting with the Turkish government on this matter,” she added.

TEHRAN, February 4. /TASS/: Tehran will continue cooperating with other countries in the investigation of the Ukrainian plane crash despite the fact that a recording of talks between Iranian dispatchers had been leaked, Iran Civil Aviation Organization said in a statement released on Tuesday.

05 Feb 2020; MEMO: Scores of Sudanese people yesterday protested outside the government’s headquarters in the capital, Khartoum, after revelations that a secret meeting was held between Chairman of the Sovereignty Council of Sudan, General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu,  on Monday.

05 Feb 2020; MEMO: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell spoke by phone Tuesday on the latest developments in the region, reports Anadolu Agency.

Abbas reiterated his country’s support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

He said his country has always respected international law and the Arab Peace Initiative.

Borrell said in response that the EU supports the two-state solution and peace efforts.

05 Feb 2020; MEMO: Israel said Wednesday that it launched airstrikes targeting positions of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, reports Anadolu Agency.

Positions belonging to the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, in the southern city of Khan Yunis were hit by missiles launched from Israeli warplanes, said sources on the ground.

There were no casualties according to initial assessments by local sources.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Syrian government forces in Idlib must pull back behind a line of Turkish observation posts by the end of this month, Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, warning that if they did not withdraw Turkey would drive them back.

Speaking two days after eight Turkish military personnel were killed by shelling in Idlib, prompting Turkish retaliation, Erdogan said two of the Turkish posts were now behind the Syrian government front line.

GAZA (Reuters) - Returning to his fields for the first time in 14 years, Palestinian farmer Naser Abu Isaeed surveyed the toll taken by conflict on formerly productive soil.

“I saw an empty area full of holes and dry weeds,” said Abu Isaeed, who once grew fruit on the tracts along Gaza’s volatile border with Israel.

He is one of about 600 Palestinian farmers who regained access to their fields along the border to cultivate crops under a project launched by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

ADDIS ABABA, Feb.4 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Director-General of World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will attend the upcoming 33rd ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU), an Ethiopian official said on Tuesday.

TEHRAN, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the Islamic republic will continue to support the Palestinian cause, Press TV reported on Wednesday.

"Iran will defend the Palestinians' rights to determine their fate and to form a Palestinian government with al-Quds (Jerusalem) as its capital," Zarif made the remark during a telephone conversation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

He denounced the U.S. President Donald Trump's so-called peace plan for the Middle East region, saying that "such plots were doomed to failure."