Middle East & North Africa

DUBAI/RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Friday agreed that the initial public offering of state oil giant Aramco will be announced on Sunday, five sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The world’s top oil company will announce its intention to float (ITF) on Nov. 3, the sources added.

“The crown prince finally gave the green light,” one source said.

Aramco declined to comment.

BEIRUT, Nov 2 (NNN-NNA) – Hezbollah Leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said that, the resistance in Lebanon is stronger than ever before and it has never been that powerful, NBN local TV channel reported.

“We did not support the resignation of the government, not because we were worried about Hezbollah, but we feared chaos, which would disable the cabinet from paying its employees’ salaries,” Nasrallah said.

Nasrallah said that some foreign powers accused Hezbollah of dominating the past cabinet’s decisions, which is not true.

TEHRAN, Nov 2 (NNN-TASNIM) – Iran connected its national power grid to that of Iraq on Friday, a news agency reported.

The power grids of the neighbouring countries were synchronised in a ceremony, with the participation of Iranian energy minister and the Iraqi deputy minister of electricity, the report said, without further details.

The move is aimed at helping Iraq reduce its power outages, it added.

The agreement to connect the two countries’ power grids was reached earlier this year.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Nov 2 (NNN-NNA) – Around 85 Syrian refugees returned, on Friday, to their homeland from Lebanon.

The Syrian refugees returned from Bekaa area, under the supervision of Lebanon’s general security.

More than one million Syrian refugees are registered with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Lebanon, while the Lebanese government estimated the true number of Syrians in the country at 1.5 million.

According to the Lebanese authorities, the number of refugees, who had returned to their homeland from Lebanon, reached 172,046 by Mar, 2019.

ANKARA, Nov 2 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkish and Russian troops launched their first joint patrol in northeastern Syria, as reconnaissance of the withdrawal of Kurdish fighters from the region, as part of a deal that halted a Turkish offensive in the area.

“First Turkish-Russian joint patrols with the ground and air units are underway, east of Ad Darbasiyah in northeastern Syria, as agreed between Turkish and Russian presidents in Sochi on Oct 22,” the Turkish Defence Ministry said in a statement.

RABAT, Nov 2 (NNN-MAP) – Morocco and Italy signed a declaration of multidimensional strategic partnership, in the Moroccan capital, Rabat.

The two sides expressed their determination to preserve and consolidate the level of relations they’ve achieved in the declaration, which was signed by Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita and his Italian counterpart, Luigi di Maio.

The declaration reaffirmed the commitment of both parties “to strengthen political dialogue and integration process, with the European Union.”

2 Nov 2019; MEMO: Saudi Aramco officials and advisers are holding last-minute meetings with investors in an attempt to achieve as close to a $2 trillion valuation as possible ahead of an expected listing launch on Sunday, according to three sources, Reuters reports.

Failure to reach the coveted target would cause a dilemma for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – swallow the bitter pill of going ahead at a lower valuation or postpone the initial public offering (IPO) once again.

2 Nov 2019; MEMO: Some 11 suspects, including high-level targets, were arrested Friday in central Turkey over links to the Daesh terror group, according to a security source, Anadolu reports.

As part of efforts against Daesh, security teams conducted simultaneous operations at various addresses in the Cankiri province, said the source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

2 Nov 2019; MEMO: The United States should return to a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Friday, saying the new US sanctions imposed on Tehran showed failure of Washington’s policy, Reuters reports.

“Rather than dig itself deeper, US should abandon failed policies & return to #JCPOA (the 2015 nuclear deal),” Zarif tweeted.

2 Nov 2019; MEMO: A Lebanese court sentenced an Uber driver to death on Friday for the murder of British embassy worker Rebecca Dykes in December 2017, state news agency NNA said, Reuters reports.

The driver, Tariq Houshieh, confessed to raping and strangling 30-year-old Dykes, who worked at the embassy in Lebanon for Britain’s Department for International Development.