Middle East & North Africa

BEIRUT, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's Foreign Ministry on Monday strongly condemned Israeli missile attacks on Syria and the use of the Lebanese airspace to launch the attack.

The ministry warned in a statement against "the consequences of this aggressive behavior, and the continued violation of Lebanese sovereignty which constitutes a violation of international laws and treaties."

The ministry added that it would file a complaint to the UN Security Council, asking it to intervene to formally end the ongoing Israeli violations.

DAMASCUS, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- The real purpose of U.S. presence in Syria has never been about fighting terrorism, but stealing resources and imposing its own vision of the future on the Arab country, said Syrian experts.

From controlling key oil and agricultural fields to slapping suffocating sanctions, the United States has been blatantly violating Syria's sovereignty, the experts noted.

LAME EXCUSE

Maher Ihsan, a journalist and political expert, told Xinhua that after being in Syria for eight years, Washington's real goals and schemes can not be hidden anymore.

TEHRAN, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Iranian foreign minister said on Monday that an agreement on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal is possible in the coming days if the United States(U.S.) shows flexibility in providing guarantees over Iran's demands, semi-official Fars News Agency reported.

Iran will present its final summary on the latest round of nuclear talks in Vienna to the European Union coordinator by Monday midnight, and "if the Americans show flexibility, we will reach an agreement in the coming days," Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was quoted as saying.

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A Syrian Cabinet minister said Monday that Syrian refugees in neighboring Lebanon can start returning home, where he said they will get all the help they need from authorities.

Tiny Lebanon is home to 1 million Syrian refugees who fled war in their country after the conflict began in March 2011. The large number of refugees in the small Mediterranean nation makes it one of the highest per capita host countries of refugees in the world.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Iranian official Monday denied Tehran was involved in the stabbing of author Salman Rushdie, though he sought to justify the attack in the Islamic Republic’s first public comments on the bloodshed.

The remarks by Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, came three days after Rushdie was wounded in New York state. The writer has been taken off a ventilator and is “on the road to recovery,” according to his agent.

Taipei, Aug 15 (AP-PTI) Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen met Monday with a delegation of US Congress members in a further sign of support among American lawmakers for the self-governing island that China claims as its own territory.

Taiwanese media showed the delegation arriving for the talks, but details of the meeting were not immediately released.

15 August 2022; MEMO: The head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem accused Israeli officials on Sunday of using Palestinian blood for electioneering, Al-Watan Voice has reported.

"Palestinian blood is not cheap to be used for election campaigns," insisted Archbishop Atallah Hanna. "They cannot accept that their blood is used for this dirty cause which reflects a lack of humanity and moral values." The Zionists factions, added the Greek Patriarch, compete in their hostility and hatred of the Palestinians.

15 August 2022; MEMO: Israel hit Iranian targets in a series of strikes yesterday near the ancestral home region of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, and close to Russia's main Syrian bases on the Mediterranean coast, regional intelligence and Syrian military sources said, Reuters reported.

14 August 2022; MEMO: Kuwait has appointed an ambassador to Iran, both countries said on Sunday, more than six years after recalling its top envoy to Tehran in solidarity with Saudi Arabia after it severed ties with the Islamic Republic in 2016, Reuters reports.

Ambassador Bader Abdullah Al-Munaikh handed his credentials to Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian in Tehran on Saturday, Iran's foreign ministry said on its website. Kuwait's foreign ministry confirmed Munaikh was appointed envoy to Iran.

14 August 2022; MEMO: Around 20 years ago, Mohammad Nassar, 62, lost his son, Shadi, who was participating in resistance activities against the Israeli occupation during the second Palestinian intifada, Anadolu Agency reports.

Nassar has since been in a constant struggle to retrieve Shadi's body from Israeli authorities.