Middle East & North Africa

09 Sep 2022; MEMO: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on 9 September that Turkish security forces had arrested a "senior executive" of Daesh, local Turkish media reports.

According to the report, Erdogan said the Daesh commander, known as Abu Zeyd, was captured by Turkish security forces.

Erdogan said a UN Security Council report published in July identified Sumaidai as "one of the senior executives of the (ISIL) terrorist organisation".

09 Sep 2022; MEMO: The European Union's energy deals with Israel violate the block's own policies and obligations under international law, according to the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC).

RAMALLAH, Sept 9 (NNN-WAFA) – Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammed Ishtaye, yesterday called on the international community, to act immediately to protect the two-state solution, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

Ishtaye made the remarks, when meeting with Luxembourg’s Minister of Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, Franz Fayot, in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

DAMASCUS, Sept 9 (NNN-SANA) – Syrian Foreign Minister, Faisal Mekdad, said yesterday that, his country deserves international support and the removal of U.S. economic sanctions.

Mekdad told a UN meeting, via a video conference from Damascus that, Syria had fought global terrorism and paid “unprecedented prices” from its human and economic resources.

The Syrian people, who have suffered immensely from the crimes committed by terrorist groups, deserve the the international community’s support, to uphold their rights to sustainable development and early recovery, he noted.

DAMASCUS, Sept 9 (NNN-SANA) – Russian airstrikes on positions of the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, in north-western Syria, killed 120 rebels, yesterday.

The Russian warplanes attacked a Nusra Front training camp, in the Sheikh Youssef area of Idlib province, and destroyed observation points, drones, and missile launchers, the Russian military sources in Syria were quoted as saying.

TEHRAN, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Iran announced on Friday that all six land border crossings with Iraq are temporarily closed until further notice due to congestion, hot weather, and lack of facilities to ensure passengers' health and security, according to the official news agency IRNA.

The closure was announced by Majid Mir-Ahmadi, head of Iran's Arbaeen Central Headquarter, as the land border crossings have been jammed by millions of Iranians heading to neighboring Iraq for the annual Arbaeen pilgrimage.

TEHRAN, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Iran announced on Friday that all six land border crossings with Iraq are temporarily closed until further notice due to congestion, hot weather, and lack of facilities to ensure passengers' health and security, according to the official news agency IRNA.

The closure was announced by Majid Mir-Ahmadi, head of Iran's Arbaeen Central Headquarter, as the land border crossings have been jammed by millions of Iranians heading to neighboring Iraq for the annual Arbaeen pilgrimage.

ANKARA, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Turkish security forces captured one of the senior executives of the Islamic State (IS), Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said late Thursday.

Turkish police and intelligence captured Bashar Hattab Ghazal al Sumaidai, code-named Abu Zeyd and Master Zeyd, the semi-official Anadolu Agency reported.

08 Sep 2022; MEMO: Qatar has called on Israel to allow Palestinians to attend this year's FIFA World Cup tournament which will kick off in the small Gulf State in November. The request was made during conversations between officials in anticipation of a period of open diplomatic relations between the two countries.

08 Sep 2022; MEMO: Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu placed cameras in the room where he met with a delegation of US senators, without informing them beforehand that the meeting's venue would have recording equipment, Israeli website Walla News reported.

A member of the American delegation noticed a video camera in the meeting room, which one of Netanyahu's advisers had turned on while Netanyahu was holding a microphone in his hand.