Middle East & North Africa

08 June 2021; MEMO: Unknown gunmen yesterday assassinated a senior Iraqi intelligence officer in the Al-Baladiyat area, east of the capital Baghdad.

An Iraqi security source said the unidentified gunmen shot Colonel Nebras Farman, a Shia Kurd who was head of the Financial Audit and Budget Department of the intelligence service.

According to the source, Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, who also heads the intelligence service, has ordered an investigation into the attack.

08 June 2021; MEMO: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman yesterday met with British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in the city of Neom, northwest of Saudi Arabia, the SPA news agency reported.

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan also attended the meeting which was held in the kingdom's futuristic city, which is part of the kingdom's Vision 2030.

08 June 2021; MEMO: Israel's legislature will vote on Sunday on approving a new government, Reuters reported the speaker of parliament saying today, a move that will unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the country's longest-serving leader.

LOD, Israel (AP) — Israeli security forces guard the streets of Lod, weeks after rioters torched patrol cars, synagogues and homes. Attackers who killed an Arab and a Jewish resident are still at large. And a mayor whom some blame for setting the stage for some of the worst domestic unrest in Israeli history remains in office.

Israel and Hamas reached a truce two weeks ago to end 11 days of fighting in the Gaza Strip. But the roots of the upheavals that wracked Israel’s mixed Jewish-Arab cities during the war have not been addressed, leaving those communities on edge.

LATAKIA /Syria/, June 7. /TASS/: Russian military instructors held drills with Syrian servicemen at a coastal practice range in Syria’s Latakia on Monday.

"The training range allows firing various types of small arms. A 25-meter pistol shooting range and a 100-meter assault rifle shooting facility have been prepared," Combat Training Chief of Russia’s Syria Military Contingent Aleksey Plisov said.

A gunnery range for preparatory firings from the guns of armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles has also been prepared on the training ground.

(Reuters) --- In Yemen's southern port city of Aden, Nawfal al-Mojamal struggles to keep Soviet-era machinery running at the main power plant as electricity outages fray the nerves of residents already fed up with poor services and political wrangling.

Only two turbines out of five at the diesel-fired al-Hasswa plant are still running, producing up to 50 megawatts (MW) of power in a region where the deficit hovers around 300 MW. Piles of trash make the building seem abandoned and dust and diesel particles fill the air.

(Reuters) --- Israel’s parliament will vote to approve a new government, formed by opponents of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, by June 14, the speaker of parliament said on Monday.

Centrist opposition leader Yair Lapid has cobbled together a cross-partisan coalition poised to unseat Netanyahu, who has had a 12-year run as prime minister.

ISTANBUL, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Turkish police seized 415 smuggled historical artifacts in Turkey's biggest city, Istanbul, and detained six suspects, Ihlas news agency reported Monday.

Istanbul's anti-smuggling units recently received a tip-off that many historical artifacts were illegally collected and would be sold to various museums, according to Ihlas.

Following the technical and physical follow-up and intelligence studies, the units have launched operations in four addresses across the city and detained the suspected smugglers, it said.

07 June 2021; MEMO: The central committee of Fatah called on Sunday for the public to mobilise against the far-right "flag march" planned by Israeli Jewish settlers in Jerusalem on Thursday, Al-Watan Voice has reported.

07 June 2021; MEMO: An Omani delegation arrived in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, on Saturday for talks with Houthi rebel leaders on peace-making in the war-torn country, according to a rebel spokesman, reports Anadolu Agency.

The talks will focus on developments in Yemen and means of advancing peace talks in the country, Mohammed Abdul-Salam told the Houthi-run Al-Masira television.