Middle East & North Africa

28 Dec 2018; AFP: Syrian troops deployed in support of Kurdish forces around a strategic northern city on Friday, in a shift of alliances hastened by last week's announcement of a US military withdrawal.

Nearly eight years into Syria's deadly conflict, the move marked another key step in President Bashar al-Assad's Russian-backed drive to reassert control over the country.

DAMASCUS, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- The re-opening of the embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Syria is a sign that the long-stranded Arab relations with Syria will resume and that the country is recovering diplomatically, experts say.

On Thursday afternoon, the UAE flag was hoisted over the embassy in Damascus for the first time in seven years amid a diplomatic presence of Iraq, Sudan, Tunisia, and Algeria.

Hamzeh al-Dawalibi, director of Protocol Department of the Syrian Foreign Ministry, also represented the Syrian government in the opening ceremony of the embassy.

Moscow, Dec 27 (AP) The Russian military on Wednesday criticized an alleged Israeli airstrike near the Syrian capital, saying it has endangered civilian flights.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said that six Israeli F-16 jets launched a "provocative" raid at the moment when two civilian airliners were preparing to land in Damascus and Beirut, creating a "direct threat" to the aircraft.

JERUSALEM; 27 Dec 2018; AA: Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, the imam at East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, has condemned criticisms of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan leveled recently by Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Sabri -- who is also head of Jerusalem’s Supreme Muslim Council -- attributed Netanyahu’s remarks to the fact that Israel “doesn’t want any country to support the Palestinian cause”.

LEFKOSA, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus; 26 Dec 2018; AA: The ground-breaking ceremony for a Turkish-sponsored irrigation project in Northern Cyprus was held on Wednesday.

The project -- which consist of a 5.7-kilometer (3.5 mile) tunnel for supplying water to farmlands -- is being added to current water supply facilities from Turkey to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli security official on Wednesday confirmed responsibility for overnight airstrikes in Syria, saying the air force had hit a series of targets involved in Iranian arms transfers to the Hezbollah militant group.

Russia had criticized the airstrike, saying it endangered civilian flights. The comments highlighted the increasingly tense relations between Israel and Russia, which have grown strained since the September downing of a Russian plane by Syrian forces responding to another Israeli raid.

MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/. Israel again carried out airstrikes on Syria using civilian jets as a cover, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

"It is noteworthy that the airstrikes were again carried out by the Israeli aviation using ‘as a cover’ civilian jets, which were about to land at the airport of Damascus and Beirut," the ministry said.

JERUSALEM, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Israeli authority approved plans for 2,191 settlement homes in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Peace Now, an Israeli non-governmental organization, said on Wednesday.

The plans, which include three new settlement industrial zones in the West Bank, were approved by Israel's Higher Planning Committee, a government body in charge of such projects.

Some 1,159 housing units were faced with the final major hurdle before the building permits can be issued, and 1,032 other housing units were at the first stage of the approval process.

26 Dec 2018; DW: Journalist Abderrazak Zorgui set himself on fire and called for a revolution over poor living conditions and corruption. His death has triggered protests in a provincial city that threaten to spread.

Clashes between protesters and police erupted for the second day in Tunisia on Tuesday after a journalist set himself on fire to protest poor living conditions in the North African state.

MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. Members of several Syrian opposition armed units are ready to lay down their arms and surrender to the Syrian army once US troops and their allies leave the Al-Tanf base in southeastern Syria, the Surya Al-An news portal reporters on Tuesday. According to the news portal, a large number of militants stationed in a 55-wide area around Al-Tanf have expressed readiness to surrender and make reconciliation agreements with the Syrian authorities.