Middle East & North Africa

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday new U.S. sanctions, under which Iran’s central bank was blacklisted for a second time, pointed to U.S. “desperation” in face of Iranian resistance.

The United States on Friday imposed another round of sanctions on Iran, including on its central bank which was already blacklisted, following the Sept. 14 attacks on Saudi oil facilities that Riyadh and U.S. officials have blamed on Iran.

DAMASCUS, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday accused the Western countries of preventing the return of Syrian refugees to their country, the state news agency SANA reported.

Assad made the remarks during his meeting with a delegation of Italian lawmakers and politicians headed by Senator Paolo Romani in the capital Damascus.

According to the report, Assad said that the position of most European countries about events in Syria was detached from reality since the beginning of the crisis over eight years ago.

23 Sep 2019; MEMO: The Egyptian authorities have censored several media website, including BBC Arabic, for reporting news about the demonstrations that broke out on Friday evening in Cairo and several governorates against El-Sisi.

The websites of Al Hurra, ARIJ, and several other media outlets have also been blocked as part of a government campaign to mislead the public.

TRIPOLI, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- The eastern-based army of Libya on Sunday announced killing more than 90 members of the rival UN-backed government's forces in battles and airstrikes during the past two days.

"The death toll of the militias (UN-backed government's forces) exceeded 90 and more than 150 were injured, as a result of airstrikes and direct clashes. Most of those casualties are from the city of Misurata," the eastern-based army's information office said in a statement.

DAMASCUS, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Geir Pedersen, UN special envoy for Syria, said on Sunday that progress has been made on the formation of a Syrian constitutional committee.

Pedersen made the remarks upon arriving in the capital Damascus on Sunday evening, when he said that since his last visit to Syria in July, progress has been made on the formation of the constitutional committee that should be tasked with reviewing and amending the Syrian constitution.

He said he is looking forward to his Monday's meeting with Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem in Damascus.

23 Sep 2019; MEMO: During the first national forum on “Hormonal disorders and their effects on health,” Doctors and specialists warned of the unprecedented spread of toxic substances in cosmetics and food consumed by citizens. Doctors and specialists called for the need to create a national vigilance centre to protect Algerians of these complications, which are known to be increasingly spreading due to the lack of supervision.

23 Sep 2019; MEMO: An unidentified drone hit a military outpost in Iraq’s western province of Al-Anbar yesterday, local media has reported.

“An unidentified aircraft carried out an airstrike within the vicinity of Al-Murssinat military base, which belongs to the Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF),” security sources told Iraq’s Al-Samreya.

The sources reported that there were no casualties.

23 Sep 2019; MEMO: Palestinian government in Gaza Strip opened the door for Gazans to apply for 2,000 government jobs divided equally between the military and civil services.

Head of the Employees Department in Gaza Yousef Al-Kayyali said that the 2,000 new employees are urgently needed to continue offering high quality services to residents.

KHARTOUM, Sudan, Sept 23 (NNN-SUNA) – Sudan’s new prime minister has formed a committee, to probe an armed June crackdown on a weeks-long protest camp in Khartoum, that killed and wounded hundreds of demonstrators, state media reported.

Shortly before dawn on June 3, gunmen in military fatigues raided the sit-in, outside army headquarters in the capital, shooting and beating protesters in an operation that shocked international observers.

DAMASCUS, Sept 23 (NNN-SANA) – Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, accused Western countries of preventing the return of Syrian refugees to their country.

Assad made the remarks, during his meeting with a delegation of Italian lawmakers and politicians, headed by Senator Paolo Romani, in the capital, Damascus.

According to the report, Assad said, the position of most European countries about events in Syria was detached from reality, since the beginning of the crisis, over eight years ago.