Middle East & North Africa

05 Feb 2023; MEMO: Israel is exploring the possibility of supplying Ukraine with its state-of-the-art Iron Dome anti-missile defense system, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, Anadolu reports.

"The issue of arms supplies was considered and rejected by the previous Israeli government. I will study this issue and answer this matter in the most adequate manner," Netanyahu said in an interview with the French LCI channel.

06 Feb 2023; MEMO: Former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid yesterday criticised National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Defence Minister Bezalel Smotrich, as well as Member of Knesset Aryeh Bibi.

06 Feb 2023; MEMO: Military delegations from Turkiye, Syria and Russia will hold a meeting this month in the context of developing the tripartite dialogue that began at the end of last year, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said.

Akar told the Turkish newspaper Sozcu yesterday that technical delegations from the three countries' ministries of defence and intelligence will meet as part of the dialogue. No details as to the exact date for the meeting were given.

06 Feb 2023; MEMO: At least 500 people have been killed in Turkiye and Syria after an earthquake shook the countries. Thousands more were left injured.

The German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) said the quake struck at a depth of ten kilometres near the southern Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, while the EMSC monitoring service said the chance of a tsunami risk was being evaluated.

JERUSALEM, Feb 5 (NNN-MA’AN) – Tens of thousands of Israelis, demonstrated last night, in several cities, to protest the government’s plan to reform the judicial system.

The largest protest was being held in the coastal city of Tel Aviv, which was attended by thousands of people.

Demonstrators have rallied for five weeks in a row, to voice their discontent with the judicial reforms, proposed by Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. They say, the reforms will weaken the courts and give the ruling coalition more power.

DUBAI, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Iran's supreme leader has pardoned "tens of thousands" of prisoners including some arrested in recent anti-government protests, state news agency IRNA reported on Sunday, after a deadly state crackdown helped quell the nationwide unrest.

However, the pardon approved by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei came with conditions, according to details announced in state media reports, which said the measure would not apply to any of the numerous dual nationals held in Iran.

CAIRO, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Fomer Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail died on Saturday at the age of 67, Egypt's official news agency MENA reported.

Ismail had a disease in the digestive system, according to earlier official media reports.

Ismail served as the country's prime minister between 2015 and 2018. He was minister of petroleum and mineral resources from 2013 to 2015.

His death was mourned by Eyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and other Egyptian officials.

ANKARA, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Six people were killed and 36 others injured on Sunday in a traffic accident in the western Turkish province of Afyonkarahisar, Demiroren News Agency reported.

A passenger bus overturned after the driver lost control of the bus in Karabedir village of Dinar district, the report said.

The bus was traveling from the southeastern province of Diyarbakir to the Bodrum district of the southwestern province of Mugla, it added.

Several rescue teams were dispatched to the scene after the accident.

RAMALLAH, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian officials are facing international pressure to resume security coordination with Israel, which has been severed in response to Israeli aggression in the West Bank.

However, "the Palestinian leadership is steadfast in its position, and there is no turning back from its clear stance that supports the Palestinian situation," Sabri Seidam, deputy chairman of the central committee of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, told "Voice of Palestine" on Saturday.

BEIRUT, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- A drastic decline in rain and snowfall this year is posing dire consequences to Lebanon's agricultural livelihoods, Lebanese officials and experts have warned.

"The decline in rain and scarcity of snow are all factors that negatively affect the stock of ground and drinking water and the ability to irrigate crops and fruit trees and provide wild animals with their water and food needs," said Michel Afram, director general of the Lebanese Agricultural Research Institution.