Middle East & North Africa

12 Jan 2019; MEMO: Iran will send the black box of the Ukrainian plane which it “accidentally” downed to France, officials said Saturday

Speaking to state-run IRNA, Hassan Rezaeifar, the director-general of the Iran Civil Aviation Organization, said: “We asked countries, including Canada, France and the US to send essential software and hardware to Iran to download information from the black box, but these countries rejected Iran’s offer.”

12 Jan 2019; MEMO: The government Tunisian Prime Minister-designate Habib Jemli fell Saturday after a no-confidence vote in parliament, Anadolu reports.

The Jemli government failed to get a vote of confidence from the Tunisian assembly, Rachid Ghannouchi, the parliament speaker announced following the vote.

The government managed just 72 votes with 134 deputies against, Parliament Speaker Rachid Ghannouchi announced after the session that lasted more than 10 hours.

Benghazi, LIBYA (AP) — Libya’s east-based forces have announced that they will abide by a ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey that is to start Sunday.

If it holds, the ceasefire would be the country’s first break in fighting in months, and the first brokered by international players. It comes as Libya is on the brink of a major escalation, with foreign backers of the rival Libyan governments stepping up their involvement on the ground.

MUSCAT, Jan 12 (NNN-ONA) – New Sultan of Oman, Haitham bin Tariq al-Said, said, he will follow the steps and approach of the late Sultan Qaboos bin Said, and will complete the progress achieved in the Omani renaissance process.

He stressed that, he will pursue a policy of distancing the region from conflicts and disputes, achieving economic integration, and supporting the Arab League and cooperation with brother countries to achieve its goals.

Tehran, Jan 8, IRNA - Iran Civil Aviation Organization said on Wednesday that 147 passengers on board of the crashed Boeing 737 plane were Iranians and 32 passengers were foreigners.

All 179 passengers died when a Ukrainian plane Boeing 737 crashed in southern Tehran Wednesday morning after its engine caught fire.

All the 167 passengers and nine crew members were killed in the crash, said speaker of Imam Khomeini Airport.

11 Jan 2019; MEMO: Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said, one of the Middle East’s longest serving rulers who maintained the country’s neutrality in regional struggles, died on Friday and his cousin Haitham bin Tariq al-Said was announced successor in a smooth transition, Reuters reports.

11 Jan 2019; MEMO: On Friday, the Iraqi government asked Washington to formulate the mechanism for the withdrawal of its forces from Iraq.

The government of Adil Abdul-Mahdi called on the US administration to send delegates to Baghdad, to put in place a plan for the safe withdrawal of US forces.

The Iraqi request was made during a phone call between the head of the Iraqi caretaker government, Abdul-Mahdi, and US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo.

11 Jan 2019; MEMO: Turkey’s Defence Ministry said on Friday that it had agreed with Russia that a ceasefire will be implemented on Sunday in northwestern Syria’s Idlib region to stem the flow of civilians uprooted by the violence, Reuters reports.

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled attacks in Idlib province toward the Turkish border in recent weeks, as towns and villages have been pounded by Russian jets and Syrian artillery since a renewed government assault last month.

11 Jan 2019; MEMO: A new telegram published on the WikiLeaks website, an international non-profit website specialising in publishing confidential documents, revealed the concerns of the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed Bin Zayed, over the ruling family in Saudi Arabia.

11 Jan 2019; MEMO: Israeli intelligence in the West Bank has started calling a number of potential candidates in the upcoming Palestinian legislative elections, who may run on the Hamas lists, asking them not to run. They have threatened them with spending the four-year term of their appointment inside Israeli prisons.