Middle East & North Africa

BAGHDAD (AP) — Thousands took to the streets of Baghdad for the funeral procession of Iran’s top general Saturday after he was killed in a U.S. airstrike, as the region braced for the Islamic Republic to fulfill its vows of revenge.

The day of mourning in the Iraqi capital ended Saturday evening with a series of rockets that were launched and fell inside or near the Green Zone, which houses government offices and foreign embassies, including the U.S. Embassy.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The body of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike, arrived Sunday in Iran to throngs of mourners, as President Donald Trump threatened to bomb 52 sites in the Islamic Republic if Tehran retaliates by attacking Americans

04 Jan 2019; MEMO: The Qatari Foreign Ministry rejected on Friday the remarks of the secretary general of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, condemning non-Arab interference in Libya, Anadolu Agency reported.

04 Jan 2019; MEMO: Israeli police officers impersonating Palestinian technicians were attacked by two teenagers in the illegal Jewish settlement of Bat Ayin in Gush Etzion located in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday.

04 Jan 2019; MEMO: Omani Sultan Qaboos Bin Said has approved the 2020 budget with an expected deficit of 2.5 billion Omani rials ($6.5 billion), the official news agency of Oman reported on Wednesday.

04 Jan 2019; MEMO: Israeli occupation forces raided on Friday the Palestinian village of Al-Malih in the occupied West Bank and confiscated five tractors, Safa News Agency reported.

Head of the Village Council of Al-Malih, Ahmad Daraghmeh, revealed that the Israeli occupation forced confiscated the tractors and claimed the tractors were working in a “closed military zone”.

04 Jan 2019; MEMO: An Iraqi commander on Friday called on all national forces in the country to unite against the US, following the killing of an Iranian top commander in a US airstrike in Iraq’s capital Bagdad, Anadolu Agency reports.

Hadi Al-Amiri, the commander of Badr Organization affiliated with Hashd al-Shaabi — an Iran-backed militant group, known also as Popular Mobilization Units (PMU).

CAIRO, January 4. /TASS/: Commander of the Libyan National Army Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar announces the nation-wide mobilization to counter any aggression from the outside, Al Arabiya TV Channel reports.

"The battle for Tripoli is coming to its end. Nobody should have doubts that the capital will be liberated," Haftar said. "We accept the challenge and I announce countering and the general mobilization against any foreign troops that will be sent to our country," he added.

4 January 2020; AFP: Iraqi factions threatening to oust US troops, officials denouncing American "violations" and fears of a new Gulf war: a US strike has catapulted Iraq back to the tumultuous aftermath of the 2003 invasion.

The precision drone strike outside Baghdad airport on Friday killed top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani and his Iraqi right-hand-man, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

Within hours, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres urged leaders to exercise restraint.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt on Saturday reopened the harbors of two of its Mediterranean ports, Alexandria and Dekheila, which had been shut due to bad weather, the Alexandria Port Authority said.

The harbors were shut on Friday due to high waves and wind speeds, preventing ships from entering or leaving the ports, though loading and unloading within the ports was continuing normally, the authority said in a statement.

The port authorities on Saturday ordered moored ships to enter the harbors according to their mooring order, it added.