Middle East & North Africa

27 Feb 2023; MEMO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi yesterday dismissed rumours that the Suez Canal would be sold for $1 trillion as a "lie".

"The war of terror is not over yet and it will not end as it is now represented in the abnormal volume of rumours, lies and fabrications, the latest of which was about the Suez Canal," Al-Sisi said during a ceremony held in the Ismailia governorate for the inspection of the equipment used in the Sinai development and reconstruction process.

27 Feb 2023; MEMO: The Executive Committee of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will hold an extraordinary, open-ended meeting today regarding "the escalation of the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people," the OIC said in a statement on its website.

Recent Israeli raids on the Palestinian city of Nablus in the northern West Bank left 11 Palestinians dead and and over 100 injured.

27 Feb 2023; MEMO: Ennahda movement's Vice President Noureddine Bhiri has been transferred from prison to the hospital following the deterioration of his health, his wife said yesterday.

Commenting on the situation Ennahda added that "his condition is very critical".

CAIRO, February 26. /TASS/: Saudi Arabia will render humanitarian assistance to Ukraine worth 410 million US dollars, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud told a news conference in Kiev after his meeting with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on Sunday.

The news conference was televised by the Al Ekhbariya television channel.

AMMAN, Feb 26 (NNN-PETRA) – Jordanian Prime Minister, Bisher Khasawneh, yesterday, inaugurated a 200-megawatt solar power plant in the capital Amman.

Being Jordan’s largest solar energy project, the plant is a joint venture between the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, Masdar, and the Finnish investment and asset management group, Taaleri.

JERUSALEM, Feb 26 (NNN-MA’AN) – For the eighth week in a row, tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated against the government and its judicial reforms, last night.

According to Israeli media outlets, more than 100,000 Israelis are protesting around the country, with the main demonstration being held in Tel Aviv, 25,000 rallying in the northern city of Haifa, and thousands gathering in front of the president’s residence in Jerusalem. There is even one in front of the house of Justice Minister, Yariv Levin, in the central city of Modiin.

JERUSALEM, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Israel's far-right finance minister said on Sunday he would not agree to any freeze in settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, after Israeli officials committed during a summit in Jordan to hold off on such construction in the coming months.

"I have no idea what they spoke about or not in Jordan," said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also has responsibilities over Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

DAMASCUS, Feb 26 (Reuters) - A delegation of senior Arab parliamentarians met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Sunday, another sign of thawing ties after more than a decade of isolation over the conflict in Syria.

The heads of the Iraqi, Jordanian, Palestinian, Libyan, Egyptian and Emirati houses of representatives, as well as representatives from Oman and Lebanon, traveled to Syria as part of a delegation from the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union.

They met with Syrian parliamentarians and with Assad, according to Syrian state news agency SANA.

TEHRAN, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The presence of "transregional countries" in any region of the world has led to "insecurity and division," Iranian Students' News Agency quoted Iranian defense minister as saying on Sunday.

Such a presence in West Asia has never been intended to support human rights, promote democracy, or help people in the region, but to ensure energy flow and Israel's security, Mohammadreza Ashtiani was quoted as saying during a meeting with his Iraqi counterpart Thabet Muhammad Saeed al-Abbasi in Tehran on Saturday.

JERUSALEM (AP) — A Palestinian gunman on Sunday opened fire at an Israeli car in the occupied West Bank, killing two Israelis, senior politicians and settler leaders said. The shooting cast a shadow over a high-level meeting between Palestinian and Israeli delegations in neighboring Jordan meant to reduce surging violence ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.