Middle East & North Africa

Ukrain had signed an agreement on the purchase of 12 Turkish Bayraktar Tactical Block 2 (TB2) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs) for the Ukrainian army.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko wrote on facebook, "As we previously agreed with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, we signed an agreement on purchasing Turkish armed drones Bayraktar TB2s for the Ukrainian army,"

ANKARA, January 12. /TASS/. Turkey continues to cooperate closely with Russia to implement the agreements on the Syrian province of Idlib reached by the presidents of both countries in September last year, Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Saturday.

The Turkish defense minister made this statement after a meeting with Chief of the General Staff Yasar Guler, Head of the National Intelligence Organization Hakan Fidan and Land Forces Commander Umit Dundar. The meeting of the Turkish top brass was held on the border with Syria.

DAMASCUS, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian air defenses intercepted most of the missiles launched by Israeli warplanes on areas near the capital Damascus on Friday night, the Syrian army said.

The Israeli warplanes flew from the Galilee Panhandle and fired several missiles on the vicinity of the capital Damascus, said an army statement.

The Syrian air defenses intercepted most of the Israeli missiles, it added.

Only a warehouse in the Damascus International Airport was damaged, according to the statement.

10 Jan 2019; AFP: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed Thursday the United States and its allies would work diplomatically to expel all Iranian troops from Syria, urging Middle East nations to forge a common stand against Tehran.

"It's time for old rivalries to end, for the sake of the greater good of the region," said Pompeo at a keynote address in Cairo.

BEIRUT, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The chief of United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on Thursday urged Lebanon and Israel to refrain from any sudden activities near the Blue Line separating the two countries.

"The UNIFIL must be notified of any activities near the Blue Line in order to ... put in place coordinated security arrangements to avoid any possible incidents or violations," said Stefano Del Col.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Some U.S. military ground equipment has been withdrawn from Syria in recent days, U.S. media reported on Thursday.

"Some cargo has already moved," CNN quoted an administration official with direct knowledge of the operation as saying.

The official did not reveal detailed information as to what the cargo was or whether it had been moved out by aircraft or ground vehicles.

The recent cargo withdrawal is reportedly intended to show the progress of the Syria withdrawal plan to U.S. President Donald Trump by the Pentagon.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Amnesty International has renewed a call for an international investigation into the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi — a slaying that has implicated some members of the Saudi crown prince’s entourage.

The group made the call outside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Thursday while marking the 100th day since his Oct. 2 killing by Saudi agents there.

About 100 meters (yards) away from the consulate, the activists symbolically put up a street sign bearing the name of the journalist who wrote critically about the crown prince.

10 Jan 2019; AFP: The main jihadist alliance in Syria's Idlib region reached a deal on Thursday ending days of deadly fighting with rival rebels and extending its influence over the whole rebel enclave.

The agreement brings an immediate end to the fighting between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led by Al-Qaeda's former Syria affiliate, and the rival Turkish-backed National Liberation Front (NLF), according to the jihadists' propaganda website Ebaa.

WASHINGTON (AP) — What to do with hundreds of foreign Islamic State fighters captured in Syria has become a critical and growing problem for the Trump administration as it prepares to pull troops out of the country.

09 Jan 2019; DW: After plea bargaining, Gonen Segev is to be jailed for 11 years. He was extradited from Africa last year for acting as an agent for a foreign power; Israel's main foe, Iran.

In his latest brush with the law, Gonen Segev agreed with Israeli prosecutors on Wednesday to plead guilty to spying charges.