Middle East & North Africa

ADEN, Apr 24 (NNN-YPA) – A senior commander of the Yemen-based al-Qaeda branch was killed yesterday, in a shootout with local security forces, in Yemen’s south-eastern province of Hadramout, a security official said.

The gun battle took place in the Sudaf area of Hadramout, when a unit of local security forces conducted an operation on an intelligence tip-off and raided an al-Qaeda hideout in the area, the local security source said.

April 24 (Reuters) - Jordan's King Abdullah headed to Cairo on Sunday for trilateral talks with Egyptian and Emirati leaders that were not previously scheduled, the royal palace said.

The meeting will include Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, according to Jordan's state news agency.

The Jordanian king was accompanied by Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah.

JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON, April 24 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will visit Israel in the coming months following an invitation from Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Bennett's office and the White House said on Sunday.

The two leaders spoke on Sunday and Bennett briefed Biden on efforts "to stop the violence and incitement in Jerusalem," Bennett's office said in a statement, in reference to Israeli-Palestinian clashes at the holy city's Al-Aqsa mosque.

TEHRAN, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy has seized a vessel allegedly smuggling 150,000 liters of fuel in the waters off the country's southeastern coast, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday.

A number of Iranian and foreign nationals were arrested, Mohammad Nozari, the commander of the IRGC Navy's Imam Ali Base in Chabahar city, was quoted as saying.

The vessel plans to deliver the fuel to a neighboring country, he said, without giving further details.

This is at least the third such seizure this month.

TEHRAN, April 24 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Embassy in Iran announced on Sunday that news about sending Iranian weapons to Russia is "fake," Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reported.

The embassy said in a statement availed to the Iranian media that "the information published in some media about sending Iranian weapons to Russia is false and does not correspond to reality."

On April 12, British daily the Guardian reported that "Russia using weapons smuggled by Iran from Iraq against Ukraine."

TUNIS, April 24 (Xinhua) -- At least 12 migrants have lost their lives and another 10 went missing after four boats carrying 120 migrants sank off Tunisia's eastern coast, Tunisia's private radio station Mosaique FM reported Sunday.

According to the radio station, 98 migrants onboard the boats have been rescued off the coast of Sfax city, and search is still underway for the missing migrants.

The migrants were trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Italy, according to the report.

TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AP) — The Lebanese military Sunday recovered the bodies of five migrants whose boat carrying nearly 60 people sank the night before, raising the death toll to six, state media reported.

The National News Agency said the five bodies were found near a small island off the coast of the northern city of Tripoli. It earlier reported that eight bodies were recovered but later lowered the number to five.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s foreign minister on Sunday accused the Hamas militant group of orchestrating recent unrest at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, responding to criticism that Israeli police used heavy-handed tactics to quell the violence.

23 April 2022; MEMO: Eri Kaneko, associate spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, announced on Friday that the international organisation hopes that Tunisia does not stray too far from democracy.

24 April 2022; MEMO: Rival regional powers Iran and Saudi Arabia resumed talks in the Iraqi capital after they were suspended in March, Iran's semi-official Nour News reported on Saturday.

Reuters reported there was no confirmation from Saudi Arabia or Iraq on the resumption of the talks.