Middle East & North Africa

22 May 2023; MEMO: Iran on Sunday welcomed back a Navy flotilla comprising Moudge-class frigate Dena and Makran forward base ship after a round-the-world cruise amid tensions with the US, Anadolu reports.

At a ceremony held in the southern coastal city of Bandar Abbas, the crew members of the Iranian Navy's 86th flotilla were received by top Iranian army officials, including chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces Major General Mohammad Bagheri.

22 May 2023; MEMO: A fire at a hotel in the Muslim holy city of Makkah killed at least eight Pakistani pilgrims and injured six others on Friday, a month before the annual Hajj pilgrimage is set to begin.

In a statement, Pakistan's Foreign Office said: "We have reports of eight deaths and six injured Pakistanis in the incident. Our Mission in Jeddah is in contact with local authorities to provide relief to the victims and their families."

22 May 2023; MEMO: Israel's occupation government held a cabinet meeting on Sunday in a tunnel underneath Al-Aqsa Mosque in an attempt to demonstrates the Zionist state's sovereignty over the occupied city of Jerusalem and its holy sites. The tunnel in question is located under Al-Buraq Wall (the "Western Wall") of the Noble Sanctuary of Al-Aqsa.

22 May 2023; MEMO: The Israeli occupation forces shot dead three more Palestinians on Monday morning during raids in Balata refugee camp in the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

Palestinian medical sources identified the three as Fathi Jihad Rizq, 30, Abdullah Yousef Abu Hamdan, 24, and Mohammad Bilal Zaytoun, 32. According to the sources, six other Palestinians were wounded during the violent raid, one of them seriously.

AARAMTA, Lebanon (AP) — Lebanese militant group Hezbollah put on a show of force Sunday, extending a rare media invitation to one of its training sites in southern Lebanon, where its forces staged a simulated military exercise.

Masked fighters jumped through flaming hoops, fired from the backs of motorcycles, and blew up Israeli flags posted in the hills above and a wall simulating the one at the border between Lebanon and Israel.

JERUSALEM (AP) — An extremist Israeli Cabinet minister visited a sensitive Jerusalem holy site on Sunday at a time of heightened tensions with the Palestinians.

The visit by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, his second known visit since becoming a member of Israel’s most right-leaning government ever, drew condemnations from the Palestinians and Israel’s neighbor Jordan, which acts as the custodian of the site.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Five Iranian border guards were killed in a clash with an unknown armed group trying to enter the country near the Pakistani border, state TV reported Sunday.

The fighting happened in the town of Saravan in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, some 1,360 kilometers (850 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran. The report said the militants fled the area with casualties, but did not elaborate.

20 May 2023; MEMO: The representative of Sudan at the Arab Summit in Saudi Arabia announced on Friday: "If the forces (Rapid Support Forces) that rebelled against peace lay down their arms, we will pardon them."

During a speech before the Arab Summit in Jeddah, the representative of Sudan Dafa-Allah Al-Haj Yousef added: "We stress that if the rebel forces lay down their arms, we will pardon them. We are not warmongers, but they forced this on us."

20 May 2023; MEMO: Orthodox Jewish parties threatened to quit the coalition government if their budget demands were not met, Hebrew media reported on Friday.

ADEN, May 20 (NNN-YPA) – Eight people were killed and at least 15 others wounded, in clashes between tribal gunmen, in Yemen’s north-eastern oil-rich province of Marib, a government official said, yesterday.

Ferocious clashes erupted Thursday night and continued into yesterday morning, between gunmen from the Al Munif and Al Fahih tribes, in the Al Wadi district of Marib, the local government official said, on condition of anonymity.