Middle East & North Africa

BEIRUT, June 22 (Xinhua) -- Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel Karim Ali called on Saturday for a better cooperation between the two countries to secure a safe return for Syrian refugees to their homeland, local media reported.

"Lebanon and Syria have diplomatic ties and it is in the interest of both countries to increase their cooperation," the ambassador was quoted as saying by Elnashra, an online independent newspaper.

Ali noted that most Syrians wish to return from Lebanon to their homeland where they can live with dignity.

ISTANBUL (AP) — Polls have opened in a repeat election in Turkey’s largest city where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his political allies could lose control of Istanbul’s administration for the first time in 25 years.

Opposition candidate Ekrem Imamoglu narrowly inflicted a shock defeat on a pro-government candidate in March 31 local government elections and briefly served as mayor for nearly three weeks. But the election was canceled following government complaints of procedural irregularities and a spat between the two sides over recounts.

22 June 2019; MEMO: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has offered urgent military support for the forces of Libyan General Khalifa Haftar, who is fighting against the internationally-recognised Libyan government in the capital Tripoli.

Egypt also dispatched military experts to the battlefields in Libya to fight side-by-side with Haftar’s forces, Arabi 21 reported yesterday.

22 June 2019; MEMO: Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed Bin Abdel-Rahman Al-Thani has said that his country is “ready to talk” with Saudi Arabia on the basis of reciprocal respect.

This came in response to a tweet by the Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubier saying that Qatar has to change its behaviour if it wants to talk with Saudi Arabia.

22 June 2019; MEMO: The former chief of Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad, Shabtai Shavit, has said that Israel does not want peace and that, if it had, it would have made peace with the Palestinian Authority (PA) long ago.

Shavit gave his remarks to Israeli daily Maariv, reiterating that if Israel wanted peace it would have discussed it in economic and infrastructure terms that serve the interests of both parties, Arab 48 reported yesterday.

22 June 2019; MEMO: The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard said yesterday that it had warned the US’ unmanned reconnaissance aircraft several times before shooting it down, revealing that Iranian forces had refrained from attacking a US airplane carrying 35 passengers that was accompanying the unmanned aircraft.

BAGHDAD, June 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. forces in Iraq prepared a plan to evacuate hundreds of contractors of security companies from an Iraqi military base in central of the country, an Iraqi security source said on Friday.

"The two U.S. companies Lockheed Martin Corp. and Sallyport Global, prepared a plan to evacuate their staff from Balad air base, depending on the development of the security situation," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

GAZA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- At least 81 Palestinians were injured on Friday afternoon during clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers in eastern Gaza Strip, close to the border with Israel, medics said.

Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman of the Gaza Health Ministry, told reporters that 79 people as well as two paramedics had various injuries in the clashes with the Israeli soldiers in eastern Gaza Strip.

AMMAN, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Jordanians took to the street on Friday voicing rejection of upcoming Bahrain workshop and the new U.S. Mideast peace plan known as the Deal of the Century.

The participants called for severing ties with Israel and annulling the peace treaty which Jordan and Israel signed in 1994, at a demonstration held in downtown Amman, capital of Jordan, by the Islamic movement in Jordan.

BAGHDAD, June 21 (Xinhua) -- At least three people were killed and more than 15 others injured Friday in a suicide bomb attack at a Shiite mosque in eastern Baghdad, a police source said.

The attack took place when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt among dozens of Shiite worshippers who were observing prayer in Imam Mahdi mosque in Baladiyat neighborhood, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.