Middle East & North Africa

AKCAKALE, Turkey (AP) — Turkish forces faced fierce resistance from U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish fighters on the third day of Ankara’s offensive in northern Syria as casualties mounted, international criticism of the campaign intensified and estimates put the number of those who fled the violence at 100,000. In a complicating twist, Washington said its troops also came under fire from NATO ally Turkey.

RABAT (Reuters) - Royal Air Maroc (RAM) has not canceled orders for the Boeing (BA.N) 737 MAX, the Moroccan national carrier said on Friday, following conflicting remarks about the fate of two jets.

“The order to receive the two aircraft has never been canceled,” Hakim Challot, director of external communications, told Reuters.

RAM has taken delivery of two Boeing 737 MAX and these were grounded along with the worldwide fleet in March, shortly after the second of two fatal accidents involving the widely used jet.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey stepped up its air and artillery strikes on Kurdish militia in northeast Syria on Friday, escalating an offensive that has drawn warnings of humanitarian catastrophe and turned Republican lawmakers against U.S. President Donald Trump.

The incursion, launched after Trump withdrew U.S. troops who had been fighting alongside Kurdish forces against Islamic State militants, has opened a new front in the eight-year-old Syrian civil war and drawn fierce international criticism.

TUNIS (Reuters) - If he wins Sunday’s election, media mogul Nabil Karoui will only have to stroll up one of Tunisia’s most expensive streets to move from his own home into the presidential palace.

For his opponent Kais Saied, the journey would be very different: through poor districts where the 2011 revolution flared and where the cafes are filled with unemployed young men.

Turkey (AP) -- In the face of widespread international criticism for his military foray into northern Syria, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan remains defiant, standing by his pledge to return as many refugees as possible to a border corridor that will be carved out by force.

“We will rebuild an area for 1 million people, for those who want to return to their country and don’t have a home to go back to,” he told members of his governing party on Thursday to widespread applause.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed won the Nobel Peace Prize for 2019 in recognition of his efforts to end his country’s two-decade border conflict with Eritrea.

The Norwegian Nobel Institute on Friday also praised the “important reforms” that Abiy, Ethiopia’s leader since April 2018, has launched at home. The prize comes as Abiy faces pressure to uphold the sweeping freedoms he introduced, and critics warn that his ability to deal with rising domestic unrest may be slipping.

11 Oct 2019; MEMO: Israel has agreed to discuss amendments to economic agreements with the Palestinians, reported Globes, in the context of a compromise enabling a transfer of funds to the Palestinian Authority (PA).

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Two missiles struck an Iranian tanker traveling through the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia on Friday, Iranian officials said, the latest incident in the region amid months of heightened tensions between Tehran and the U.S.

There was no word from Saudi Arabia on the reported attack and Saudi officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Oil prices spiked by 2% on the news.

11 Oct 2019; MEMO: The competent criminal court postponed the verdict on Salman Al-Ouda until Wednesday 30 October, according to his son Abdullah Al-Ouda’s tweet.

Abdullah Al-Ouda said: “After the suspicious urgency to fix court sessions for my father Salman Al-Ouda, and after previously deciding to pronounce the verdict today, the court suddenly decided to postpone the judgment until Wednesday 30 October. I ask Allah to lift the burden off my father’s and the rest of the detainees’ shoulders.”

11 Oct 2019; MEMO: Yamina, an Israeli right-wing alliance headed by former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, formally split into two separate parties yesterday, reported Haaretz.