Middle East & North Africa

06 Sep 2021; MEMO: The head of the Lebanese Forces Party, Samir Geagea, yesterday called for "early presidential elections" to be held, saying the results of President Michel Aoun's rule have been "catastrophic" for all people, especially Christians.

"We do not want a president who provokes crises, insults the state, and impoverishes the Lebanese," Geagea said, adding that his party deeply regrets supporting the election of General Michel Aoun as President of the Republic.

06 Sep 2021; MEMO: Turkey's data protection authority has fined WhatsApp nearly $235,000 for violating privacy rules, local media reports.

According to reports, the Turkish Personal Data Protection Authority (KVKK) announced that it had fined WhatsApp 1,950,000 Turkish lira and ordered the app to bring its privacy policy in line with Turkish laws.

WhatsApp has to take "the necessary measures to avoid processing personal data contrary to the law", the KVKK said.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli forces on Monday launched a massive manhunt in northern Israel and the occupied West Bank after six Palestinian prisoners escaped overnight from a high-security facility in an extremely rare breakout.

TEHRAN, September 5. /TASS/: The Taliban (outlawed in Russia) are interested in establishing relations with Russia, Iran and Pakistan, Mohammad Akbar Agha, a formed Taliban field commander and now the leader of Afghanistan’s High Council of Salvation, told TASS on Sunday.

"We should establish broad relations with Moscow, since it is in the interests of both the Taliban and Russia," he said. "Iran and Pakistan are also the countries we want to establish relations with. They need us and we need them."

DAMASCUS, Sept 5 (NNN-SANA) – Buses were prepared yesterday, to transport rebels from Syria’s southern province of Daraa, to rebel-held areas in northern Syria.

The evacuation is planned for the rebels, who refused to reconcile with the Syrian authorities in Daraa. As such, roadblocks were removed to prepare for the evacuation from several areas in Daraa.

Some rebel groups retracted their previous pledges, to hand over their weapons in Daraa.

JERUSALEM, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid will fly to Moscow for an official trip to meet his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Lapid, who is also Israel's alternate prime minister, will depart on Wednesday for a one-day visit to Russia and will "hold a working meeting" with Lavrov, it added, without elaborating on which topics the talks will focus on.

TEHRAN, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on Sunday that Iran will support the people of Afghanistan from "possible attempts of foreign dominating powers to create insecurity and instability."

"Whatever the Afghan people want is what Iran wants, and we are hopeful and sensitive regarding the future of our dear neighbor," he said in a speech in the chamber, official parliamentary news agency ICANA reported.

KHARTOUM, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Sudan officially denied the Ethiopian statements about the "infiltration of its rebel groups through the Sudanese territories to target the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)."

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has followed, with regret, the misleading statements alleging that an armed group entered the Sudanese border to target an Ethiopian facility," said Sudan's Foreign Ministry on Saturday in a statement.

04 Sep 2021; MEMO: Spokesperson for the Negotiating Committee in Daraa (southern Syria) Adnan Al-Masalma confirmed that negotiations with Russia and the Bashar Al-Assad regime to implement the truce agreement signed on 31 August have reached a deadlock.

05 Sep 2021; MEMO: The US Department of Defence has denied the validity of Iranian media reports about the withdrawal of US troops from its military bases in Syria.

A Pentagon spokesperson confirmed in a statement to the Russian RIA Novosti: "This is not true. The standards of our mission in Syria remain the same. We made calls this morning to confirm this."