Middle East & North Africa

ANKARA, December 18. /TASS/: A Turkish delegation will soon head to Russia to discuss with Russian colleagues the situation in Libya and Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced, according to NTV channel.

"We [together with Russian President Vladimir Putin] have issued an order. Under it, the deputy foreign minister, the deputy national defense minister as well as representatives of the intelligence and national security will soon pay a visit to Moscow," the Turkish leader said. "We have agreed that Libya and Syria will be discussed."

TEHRAN, December 18. /TASS/: Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani has highlighted the need to cultivate bilateral ties with Russia to ensure regional security. He said as much at a meeting with Secretary of Russia’s Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, which was held in Tehran on Wednesday.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said world powers have yet to pledge support for the country’s “safe zone” plans in northern Syria, where it intends to resettle one million Syrian refugees, broadcaster NTV reported on Wednesday.

“Not even the countries we regard as the most powerful and respected have come out yet in response to our call on the safe zone and said ‘we’re in’,” Erdogan told reporters in Geneva, where he attended the Global Forum on Refugees on Tuesday.

ISTANBUL, Dec 18 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Discussions on the construction of an artificial waterway, which would divide Turkey’s most populous city Istanbul, have lately polarised the Turkish society over its environmental and financial impacts.

Canal Istanbul was first brought out by then Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in 2011, as a “crazy project” with a view to easing the heavy traffic of the 30-km-long Bosphorus Strait, one of the world’s busiest waterways that divides the Asian and European parts of Istanbul.

TEHRAN, Dec 18 (NNN-TASNIM) – Iran is hosting an international meeting, on regional security, today (Wednesday), Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, announced.

Shamkhani said in a statement that, the 2nd meeting of the Regional Security Dialogue, will be held in Tehran with the attendance of top security officials from Iran, Russia, China, India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

GAZA, Dec 18 (NNN-WAFA) – Israeli soldiers shot and killed, on Tuesday night, a Palestinian man, who approached the border fence between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel, Israeli and Palestinian sources said.

An Israeli army spokesman showed a short video in black and white, of a Palestinian man approaching the fence of the borders between eastern Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip and Israel.

The spokesman said that the Israeli army dealt with the man and hit him.

IDLIB, Dec 18 (NNN-SANA) – Syrian government and Russian air strikes killed at least 17 people in rebel-held northwestern Syria, witnesses and rescuers said.

The northwest corner of the country, including the Idlib region, is the last significant swathe of Syrian territory, still in insurgent hands after eight and a half years of war.

Russia, which backed President Bashar Assad against rebels and militants, and Turkey, long a supporter of rebels, co-sponsored a conflict “deescalation” deal for the area earlier this year, that has since faltered.

ISTANBUL, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- Discussions about the construction of an artificial waterway, which would divide Turkey's most populous city Istanbul, have lately polarized the Turkish society over its environmental and financial impacts.

Canal Istanbul was first brought out by then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2011 as a "crazy project" with a view to easing the heavy traffic of the 30-km-long Bosphorus Strait, one of the world's busiest waterways that divides the Asian and European parts of Istanbul.

17 Dec 2019; MEMO: Russia and the Syrian regime started a joint military exercise in the Eastern Mediterranean, local media reported today.

Speaking to the Russian media, Rear Admiral Alexander Yuldashev said Russian warships and fighter jets from Khmeimim, a base in coastal Syria, and Syrian regime minesweepers are taking part in the exercise.

Yuldashev said the joint manoeuvres will include artillery fire along with practice fighting illegal armed groups and drones.

17 Dec 2019; MEMO: The Likud party in Israel has expelled around 100 members who are known to be against the policies of its leader Benjamin Netanyahu, the Jerusalem Post reported on Monday. The current Prime Minister has been heading the Likud for 14 years.