Middle East & North Africa

02 Sep 2021; MEMO: The former head of Israeli spy agency Mossad has expressed concern that the US may soon withdraw from Iraq as it has from Afghanistan. This could lead to the downfall of the current Iraqi regime and the country becoming controlled fully by Iran, warned Yossi Cohen.

02 Sep 2021; MEMO: The Algerian Minister of Communication Ammar Belhimer said all of the country's components stand against the Moroccan-Israeli alliance.

"Algeria represented by its people, constitutional institutions and developmental prospects are the subject of a real and systematic war from several parties, foremost of which is the Moroccan-Zionist alliance," Belhimer said in an interview with the Algerian Djalia newspaper.

02 Sep 2021; MEMO: Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz approved the promotion of Aviem Sella, who recruited American spy Jonathan Pollard 30 years ago, local media reported yesterday.

The Israeli army said in a statement that the former Israeli Air Force officer Sella was promoted to Brigadier General upon the recommendation of the chief of the Israeli Air Force and the approval of the Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi and Defence Minister Benny Gantz.

02 Sep 2021; MEMO: US Senator Richard Blumenthal said yesterday that the Lebanese authorities do not have to rely on Iranian fuel shipments to alleviate the fuel crisis crippling the country.

"Lebanon is in free fall…We've seen this movie before and it's a horror story…, but the good news is it can, should, and hopefully will be avoided," Blumenthal told reporters at the end of a two-day visit to Lebanon as part of a US congressional delegation.

01 Sep 2021; MEMO: The Turkish Coast Guard rescued 120 asylum seekers yesterday after Greek authorities forced them to return to Turkish territorial waters off the coast of Aydin state, Anadolu Agency reports.

Security sources told Anadolu Agency that the Turkish Coast Guard went to the coast of Kas Island after receiving a report of the presence of asylum seekers on two rubber boats.

01 Sep 2021; MEMO: A woman in Saudi Arabia has been awarded at least two million riyals ($533,334) after being accidentally swapped at birth with another baby and being raised by a poor family for over three decades.

The claimant, now aged 35 was born to wealthy parents at a government-run hospital in Makkah, according to local newspaper Al-Watan. However, a nurse who had bathed the new-born babies mistakenly returned them to the wrong mothers.

30 Aug 2021; MEMO: Israeli intelligence officials met privately this month with the son of Libya's top warlord to discuss his 2021 presidential candidacy, a signal that Israel is supporting his bid, a source familiar with the meeting told the Washington Free Beacon.

DAMASCUS, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- A new deal to defuse the tension in Daraa province in southern Syria went into force on Wednesday, starting with a number of armed rebels surrendering to the Syrian authorities, according to state news agency SANA and a war monitor.

A number of armed men from the Daraa al-Balad area started a reconciliation process with the Syrian authorities, handing over their weapons as part of a new Russian-mediated deal to end months-long tension in that province.

AMMAN, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- More than 2 million students resumed on Wednesday in-school learning in Jordan after a months-long hiatus amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Secretary-General of the Ministry of Education Najwa Qubeilat said in a statement that a plan would be implemented in the first two days of the new school year, entailing an odd-even number system for different grades students returning to the campus.

RAMALLAH, Sept 1 (NNN-WAFA) – Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, said yesterday that, the current Israeli government “is immature” for launching a serious peace process.

Abbas made the remark during a meeting of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).

Abbas told the meeting that, his meeting with Israeli Defence Minister, Benny Gantz, two days ago, focused on the necessity to abide by international resolutions and the two-state solution.