Middle East & North Africa

TUNIS, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Tunisia's powerful labour union on Friday called on the president to propose changes to the political system and put them to a referendum after his seizure of governing powers in July in a move critics called a coup.

The UGTT union, which has so far backed President Kais Saied since he sacked the prime minister, suspended parliament and said he was taking over executive authority, has for weeks urged him to name a government and announce a roadmap for the crisis.

03 Sep 2021; MEMO: Turkey's opposition leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, announced that all Syrian and Afghan refugees will be sent back to their homeland in two years if he takes power following the 2023 elections, local media reports.

Kilicdaroglu claimed Turkey can hardly feed itself and can no longer handle the refugee numbers.

03 Sep 2021; MEMO: The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, has rejected the framework agreement signed between the United States and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) regarding the restoration of US funding for the agency.

Hamas pointed out that the agreement signed on 15 July contains "dangerous and humiliating" conditions imposed by Washington on the agency in return for funding.

CAIRO, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Israel carried out air strikes on targets near Damascus early on Friday, triggering Syrian air defences but causing no casualties, Syrian state media reported, the second such attack in just over two weeks.

The Israeli military declined to comment on the report.

A Syrian military source quoted by state media said Syrian air defences shot down most of the Israeli missiles and only material damage was done in the attack launched at 1:26 a.m.

03 Sep 2021; MEMO: Turkey's exports hit an all-time high August figure at $18.9 billion, Hurriyet Daily News reported Minister of Trade Mehmet Mus saying yesterday.

Exports rose 52 per cent compared to the same period last year, the minister said.

"With this strong momentum achieved in our exports, we surpassed the pre-pandemic performance," he said.

02 Sep 2021; MEMO: Israel's Ofer Military Court today agreed to release nine-month pregnant Anjhar Al-Deek, issuing 40,000 shekel ($12,500) bail and releasing her on house arrest, the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners' Affairs Authority said today.

Twenty-five-year-old Al-Deek is from the Kafr Ni'ma town west of Ramallah and has been imprisoned for five months on charges of attempting to carry out a stabbing attack near an illegal settlement outpost, however no verdict has yet been issued against her yet.

03 Sep 2021; MEMO: The son of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi yesterday announced that he would run in the presidential election to be held on 24 December.

Afrigate quotes a source a close to supporters of the former Gaddafi regime as saying that Saif Al-Islam's announcement had come on the 52nd anniversary of the Al-Fateh Revolution – the 1969 Libyan coup carried out against the late Libyan King Muhammad Idris Al-Senussi.

03 Sep 2021; MEMO: The leaders of Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority yesterday rejected Israel's illegal measures that undermine the two-state solution, the continued expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, land seizures, house demolitions and attempts to change the status quo in East Jerusalem.

TRIPOLI, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- The ambassador of the European Union (EU) Delegation to Libya stressed here on Thursday the EU's support for the upcoming elections in Libya.

Jose Antonio Sabadell voiced this view during a meeting with Emad Al-Sayeh, chairman of the Libyan Higher National Commission of Elections.

02 Sep 2021; MEMO: Israeli authorities today demolished the Palestinian Bedouin village of Al-Araqeeb in the southern Negev for the 192nd time.The Bedouin families of Al-Araqeeb rebuild the village every time Israeli authorities demolish it.