Middle East & North Africa

JERUSALEM, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- One of Israeli most powerful tycoons started to serve three-year prison sentence on Tuesday for security fraud, Israel's Prison Service said in a statement.

Nochi Dankner, 63, arrived in the morning at the Maasiyahu Prison in central Israel accompanied by his son-in-law and lawyer.

"This is a difficult day for me and my family," Dankner told reporters at the entrance of the prison.

"I have fought for my innocence......I trust the justice and legal system and love the State of Israel very much," he added.

ANKARA, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signaled on Monday a potentially new military offensive in neighboring Syria against a Kurdish faction, aiming to secure control of the northern region east of the Euphrates River.

Speaking at the opening of the parliament in Ankara, Erdogan said that Turkey would act against the People's Protection Units (YPG) militia, the Syrian affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is designated by Turkey, the United States and EU as a terrorist organization.

1 Oct 2018; DW: Saudi Arabia and its funding partner Softbank have reportedly shelved plans for the $200-billion project. It was part of the kingdom's economic transformation plan and would have produced three times the energy it needs.

Citing Saudi government officials, the US business daily Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Monday that Saudi plans to build the world's biggest solar power generation facility had been shelved, as the desert kingdom was working on a "broader, more practical strategy to boost renewable energy."

30 Sep 2018; DW: A Syrian war monitor has claimed Russian airstrikes in Syria have killed more than 18,000 people over the past three years. But Russia says the figure is actually closer to 85,000.

More than 18,000 people have been killed in Russian air strikes since Moscow started a bombing campaign in Syria exactly three years ago, a monitor said Sunday.

Russia's military intervention in support of the Syrian government on September 30, 2015 changed the course of the war, allowing President Bashar al-Assad's regime to retake large swaths of the country.

RAMALLAH, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) sent a letter on Monday to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urging him to list Israel as a state that "violates children's rights" in its annual report on children and armed conflict.

The letter, sent from PLO's Secretary General Saeb Erekat, came two days after Israeli troops killed two Palestinian children in Gaza on Friday.

RAMALLAH, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian territories in West Bank, Gaza Strip and Palestinian towns inside Israel witnessed Monday a general strike in protest of the recently passed Jewish nation state law in Israel.

The strike was called for by Palestinian national and Islamic factions in coordination with the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens in Israel.

The strike aimed at highlighting the consequences of the new basic law endorsed by Israeli parliament on the rights of the Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories, according to the organizers.

Tehran, Oct 1 (AP) Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said Monday that it launched ballistic missiles into eastern Syria, targeting militants the force blames for a recent attack on a military parade.

The launch was the Islamic Republic's second such missile attack on Syria in over a year.

Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency said the attacks "killed and wounded" militants in Syria, without elaborating. Syrian state media did not immediately acknowledge the strike.

Gaza; GANASHAKTI: Samer Tamimi, the 11-year-old cousin of famed teen Palestinian activist Ahed, was arrested on Friday by Israeli occupation forces, as reported by journalist Dena Takruri.

The child's father said the army arrested Samer and other two boys his age after they failed to capture other men they were looking for. Nothing is known about his current whereabouts or when he could be released.

Samer has a scar above his right eye, the product of a bullet from the Israeli army who shot him while he was playing.

GAZA CITY; 29 Sep 2018; Gaza Strip (AP) — Hundreds have attended the funeral of an 11-year-old Palestinian boy, apparently the youngest killed by Israeli fire in six months of protests along Gaza’s perimeter fence.

Nasser Musabeh was among seven protesters who Gaza health officials say were killed by Israeli troops near the fence Friday.

BAGHDAD, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Foreign Ministry on Saturday regretted that United States has decided to pull out its diplomats from Iraq's southern city of Basra and warned U.S. citizens against travelling to the country.

The Iraqi government "confirms that Iraq is committed to protecting foreign diplomatic missions on its territory and securing them," the ministry said in a statement.

"Their security is part of the security of Iraq, and a legal and moral obligation," it added.