Middle East & North Africa

CAIRO, Apr 26 (NNN-MENA) – Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sameh Shoukry, stressed Egypt’s support for a political solution to the Yemeni crisis, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said, in a statement.

During a meeting in Cairo, with the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, Shoukry affirmed Egypt’s firm position, in supporting all efforts aiming at reaching a comprehensive political solution that meets the aspirations of the Yemeni people and end the country’s protracted humanitarian crisis.

BAGHDAD, Apr 26 (NNN-NINA) – Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, yesterday suspended Minister of Health, Hassan al-Tamimi, and launched an investigation into the huge fire at the Ibn al-Khatib hospital.

A statement by Al-Kadhimi’s media office said, the prime minister held an extraordinary session to discuss the tragic fire at the hospital, which is located in eastern Bagdad and provides care for severe COVID-19 patients.

25 Apr 2021; MEMO: Israel has rejected a Palestinian request to hold elections in the occupied city of Jerusalem, a Palestinian official said on Sunday, Anadolu Agency reported.

"Israel did not respond positively with a Palestinian request and international pressure to allow elections in Jerusalem," Azzam al-Ahmad, a member of the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), told the official Palestine Voice Radio.

(Reuters) --- U.S. President Joe Biden's declaration that massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire constituted genocide is "simply outrageous" and Turkey will respond over coming months, Turkey's presidential spokesman said on Sunday.

Biden broke on Saturday with decades of carefully calibrated White House comments over the 1915 killings, delighting Armenia and its diaspora but further straining ties between Washington and Ankara, both members of the NATO military alliance.

25 Apr 2021; MEMO: Gen. Scott Miller, the top US commander in Afghanistan, announced on Sunday that foreign troops have begun vacating military bases in the war-ravaged country, Anadolu Agency reported.

Commander of the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan told a press conference in Kabul that the US and Allied forces will hand over all their bases to the Afghan forces.

26 Apr 2021; MEMO: Egypt's Information Minister Osama Heikal resigned yesterday, Al-Ahram newspaper reported spokesman of the Cabinet, Nader Saad, saying.

In press statements carried by state-run MENA Agency, Saad said Heikal submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, citing personal reasons. According to Al-Ahram, no details were given for the move.

26 Apr 2021; MEMO: In the aftermath of a deadly fire which took the lives of over 80 COVID-19 patients, Iraq's health minister and the governor of Baghdad have both been suspended, Anadolu Agency reported.

At a special Sunday Cabinet session, Health Minister Hassan Al-Tamimi and Baghdad Governor Muhammad Jaber were suspended and referred for investigations, said a statement by Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi's media office.

26 Apr 2021; MEMO: The Chief of Staff of the Israel Defence Forces, Aviv Kochavi, has cancelled his visit to the United States, during which he was scheduled to meet with American officials to mobilise them against rejoining the Iran nuclear deal, an IDF spokesperson announced on Sunday.

According to the Jerusalem Post, this follows "a security assessment, and to improve the preparations for possible developments" on the nominal border with the Gaza Strip.

ISTANBUL, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Turkish prosecutors issued on Monday detention warrants for 532 military personnel over their alleged links to a network accused of orchestrating a coup attempt in 2016.

Police units launched operations in 62 provinces as part of an investigation co-conducted by prosecutors in Istanbul and Izmir, said the state-run Anadolu agency.

Prosecutors concluded that the suspects have connections with the network headed by U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, according to Anadolu.

26 Apr 2021; MEMO: Yemen's Houthi have achieved significant gains towards the strategic city of Marib, the internationally-recognised government's last northern stronghold, AFP reported.

Military officials in the pro-government forces said the Houthis have taken control of the northwest Kassara battlefront and made progress on western frontlines despite airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition which backs the Yemeni government.