Middle East & North Africa

TEHRAN, Jan 23 (NNN-TASNIM) – New Iranian satellite, Zafar, will be sent into orbit in a few weeks, the Minister of Information and Communications Technology, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, announced on Wednesday.

Jahromi said, Zafar will be launched before Feb 11.

Two versions of Zafar have been manufactured, so that if the first launch fails, the second satellite will be immediately prepared as a replacement, he was quoted as saying.

The new satellite will be sent into space with the Iranian Simorgh satellite carrier, he added.

GAZA, Palestine, Jan 23 (NNN-WAFA) – Hamas, ruler of the Gaza Strip, condemned the killing of three Palestinian teenagers by Israeli army.

Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said that, the killing of the Palestinians “is an awful crime that is strongly condemned.”

“While the occupier (Israel) is receiving world leaders, for the memory of the Holocaust, Israeli tanks murdered three Palestinian young men, on the Gaza border, in cold blood,” said Barhoum.

RAMALLAH, Palestine, Jan 23 (NNN-WAFA) – The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, warned that, Israel’s plan to annex the Jordan Valley is “a devastating blow” to the two-state solution.

“It will be a devastating blow to reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations” if part or all of the Jordan Valley is annexed, Mladenov said.

BEIRUT (AP) — Iran has long sought the withdrawal of American forces from neighboring Iraq, but the U.S. killing of an Iranian general and an Iraqi militia commander in Baghdad has added new impetus to the effort, stoking anti-American feelings that Tehran hopes to exploit to help realize the goal.

The Jan. 3 killing has led Iraq’s parliament to call for the ouster of U.S. troops, but there are many lingering questions over whether Iran will be able to capitalize on the sentiment.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Dozens of world leaders descended upon Jerusalem on Thursday for the largest-ever gathering focused on commemorating the Holocaust and combating modern-day anti-Semitism.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron, Britain’s Prince Charles, Vice President Mike Pence and the presidents of Germany, Italy and Austria were among the more than 40 dignitaries attending the World Holocaust Forum, which coincides with the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s new government made up of appointees nominated by the Shiite group Hezbollah and its allies got down to business Wednesday, a day after it was formed. Questions arose immediately about its ability to halt spiraling violence and economic and financial collapse.

22 Jan 2019; MEMO: Yesterday Israeli forces arrested four worshippers, including a girl, as they stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque’s Al-Rahma gate, in the occupied city of Jerusalem.

TEL AVIV, January 21. /TASS/: Russia plays an important role in the Middle East, and Israel values Russian President Vladimir Putin's understanding of the importance of ensuring security of the Jewish state, Israel's Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz told TASS in an interview ahead of Putin's visit to Israel on January 23.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon’s new cabinet is due to meet for the first time on Wednesday, bearing a message of support from the United Nations as ministers begin the urgent task of addressing an unprecedented economic crisis.

The government, under Prime Minister Hassan Diab, was formed on Tuesday after the Iranian-backed Shi’ite group Hezbollah and its allies agreed on a cabinet of 20 specialists.

BAGHDAD, Jan 22 (NNN-NINA) – Iraqi Independent High Commission for Human Rights (IHCHR), said, 10 protesters were killed and 159 others injured, during the past two days of anti-government protests.

A statement by IHCHR said that the commission’s teams, deployed in the protests sites of Baghdad and a number of Iraqi provinces, registered some violent acts that caused casualties and arrests, during clashes between the demonstrators and security forces.