Middle East & North Africa

JERUSALEM, Sept 19 (NNN-MA’AN) – Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, cancelled a trip to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, a gathering he usually attends to advance Israeli interests.

His office said, he will not attend the event next week, during which he was supposed to meet U.S. President Donald Trump, to discuss a “mutual defence treaty.”

The office did not say whether the meeting will be held on a different date.

BEIRUT, Sept 19 (NNN-NNA) – Gas stations in Lebanon held, on Wednesday, a nationwide strike, as they were forced to pay higher rates, when exchanging Lebanese pounds into U.S. dollars.

“We are losing money because we buy fuel from our suppliers by paying in U.S. dollars, while we sell it at Lebanese pounds,” Sami Brax, head of the Syndicates of Gas Station Owners, was quoted as saying.

RIYADH, Sept 19 (NNN-SPA) – Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, highlighted keenness to launch an investigation with international participation on the attacks that targeted two oil plants in the country.

He said, the international probe aims to reassure the global community of procedures taken by Saudi Arabia.

During a phone call, Russian President, Vladimir Putin, stressed his country’s readiness to participate with international experts, in the investigation to find out the source of those attacks, according to a report.

MOSCOW, Sept 19 (NNN-TASS) – The resettlement of refugees from the battered Rukban camp in southern Syria, may be completed in Oct, if U.S.-backed rebels don’t torpedo it, the Russian Defence Ministry said.

The Russian Centre for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties and the Control of the Movement of Refugees in Syria, received the updated United Nations (UN) and Syrian Arab Red Crescent plan, for the removal of the remaining Rukban residents, the ministry said.

TEHRAN, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday rejected talks with the United states over the mutual issues, while Washington maintains its "maximum pressure campaign" against Tehran.

Rouhani, who was talking in Iran's cabinet meeting, said that "negotiations under maximum pressure are impossible," official IRNA news agency reported.

"If the Americans want talks, they should stop all pressures" against Iran, Rouhani was quoted as saying.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Latest on tensions in the Persian Gulf (all times local):

10:00 p.m.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says U.N. experts have already left for Saudi Arabia to investigate attacks on key Saudi oil installations.

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday it would “invite U.N. and international experts to view the situation on the ground and to participate in the investigations.”

JERUSALEM (AP) — After a decade of mesmerizing world leaders, subduing his rivals and eking out dramatic election victories, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political future is suddenly in doubt.

With near-final results from Israel’s election on Tuesday, he has been left well short of the parliamentary majority he had sought — not only to continue in power but also to fend off a looming corruption indictment.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday called the attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil installations an “act of war” against the kingdom by Iran, as the Saudis displayed missile and drone wreckage and cited other evidence they said shows the raid was “unquestionably sponsored by Iran.”

Iran, which has denied involvement in the attack, warned the U.S. it will retaliate immediately if it is targeted.

KHAN SHAYKHUN/Syria/, September 18. /TASS/: A swift operation to liberate Khan Shaykhun, a city in Syria’s Idlib Governorate, was carried out thanks to the Syrian military's elite Tiger Forces, President of the Center for Strategic Communications Dmitry Abzalov told reporters.

18 Sep 2019; MEMO: Sixty-one per cent of Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip want President Mahmoud Abbas to step down, a poll has found.

Felesteen.ps reported that a survey conducted by the by Palestinian Centre for Political and Polling Research between 11-14 September found that 50 per cent of Palestinians want a return to an armed intifada in light of the lack of progress in the peace process and 40 per cent want to the Palestinian Authority (PA) to be dissolved.