Middle East & North Africa

17 Dec 2019; MEMO: Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz has signed the permits required for Israel to begin exporting natural gas to Egypt, the Jerusalem Post reported on Monday. The exports, it noted, are expected to start next month.

“The permits were granted after all the required procedures were completed, including the approval of the Israel Competition Authority,” added the Israeli newspaper.

17 Dec 2019; MEMO: Secretary of the PLO’s Executive Committee Saeb Erekat yesterday called on Arab states to take serious action against Brazil after it opened a trade office in Jerusalem, Al-Watan Voice reported.

KUWAIT, Dec 17 (NNN-XINHUA) – NATO secretary general, said that, NATO seeks to increase cooperation with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

Jens Stoltenberg made the remarks, during the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) held in Kuwait City.

During the 70 years since its establishment, NATO has never experienced such a complex security environment as it does today, Stoltenberg said.

JERUSALEM, Dec 17 (NNN-MEM) – Some 18,000 homes in Jerusalem are under the threat of demolition, by the Israeli occupation authorities, the city’s deputy governor announced.

Abdullah Siam told The Voice of Palestine that, the Israeli demolition activities were being carried, under the pretext of the homes’ “illegal construction.”

“The demolition of Palestinian homes in occupied Jerusalem comes, in the context of Israel’s punitive measures, forced displacement, ethnic cleansing, and the Judaisation of the occupied Jerusalem,” Siam pointed out.

TARTUS /Syria/, December 17. /TASS/: The Russian Navy and the Navy of the Syrian Arab Republic have started joint exercises in the Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday.

The source said the exercises involve Russian surface ships and aircraft from the Hmeymim airbase, as well as Syrian Navy missile boats and mine warfare vessels.

The commander of the exercises, Rear Adm. Alexander Yuldashev, said the maneuvers will be held in the common operating environment and will involve various tactical episodes.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A mayor from Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) was arrested over suspected links to the network that Ankara says orchestrated a failed coup in 2016, a party official said early on Tuesday.

Ankara has cracked down on suspected followers of Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based Muslim cleric, since the July 2016 coup attempt in which some 250 people were killed. Operations against the network are still routine.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Kuwait formed a new government on Tuesday, state news agency KUNA reported, a month after the previous one resigned due to a row between ruling family members and parliament.

Sheikh Sabah al-Khalid al-Sabah will be prime minister. Previously foreign minister, he was appointed by Kuwaiti ruler Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah days after the government resigned.

BEIRUT (AP) — Supporters of Lebanon’s two main Shiite groups Hezbollah and Amal clashed with security forces and set fires to cars in the capital early Tuesday, apparently angered by a video circulating online that showed a man insulting Shiite figures.

Police used tear gas and water cannons trying to disperse them.

It was the third consecutive night of violence, and came hours after Lebanon’s president postponed talks on naming a new prime minister, further prolonging the turmoil and unrest in the Mediterranean country.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Abbas Ali spends most of his free time camped out in Tahrir Square — the epicenter of Iraq’s anti-government protests — going home only at 3 a.m. to catch few hours of sleep, change his clothes and check on his family. He is determined to stay in the square until the end, whatever that may be.

Ali was only 13 when the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein. He only vaguely remembers life under the dictator. What he knows clearly is that life in post-Saddam Iraq is a daily, often humiliating struggle for survival.

16 Dec 2019; MEMO: A delegation of senior Israeli officials from the Ministry of Justice yesterday travelled to the UAE in order to participate in an anti-corruption conference being held in Abu Dhabi, Ynet News reported.

The UAE is hosting the Eighth Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) which begins today and end on Friday.