Middle East & North Africa

ISTANBUL, Apr 22 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkey, Qatar, and the United Nations will “resolutely continue their earnest efforts” to achieve peace in Afghanistan, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

The trio planned to co-convene a high-level conference in Istanbul, from Apr 24 to May 4, with participation of the Afghan government and the Taliban.

The ministry said, the conference was agreed to postpone to a later date when “conditions for making meaningful progress would be more favourable.”

 22 Apr 2021; MEMO: Iran has installed extra advanced centrifuges at its underground uranium enrichment plant at Natanz that was hit by a blast last week, a report by the UN atomic watchdog showed yesterday, deepening Iran's breaches of its nuclear deal with major powers, Reuters reported.

22 Apr 2021; MEMO: Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on Wednesday submitted documents to Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas proving Palestinian ownership of Jerusalem's neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, Wafa news agency reported.

 22 Apr 2021; MEMO: Saudi security forces stormed the house of Palestinian detainee Mohamed Al-Khodari in Jeddah yesterday and took his 70-year-old wife Wijdan and daughter-in-law to a security centre, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said.

 22 Apr 2021; MEMO: A Syrian missile exploded in southern Israel today, the Israeli military said, in an incident that triggered warning sirens near the secretive Dimona nuclear reactor and an Israeli strike in Syria, Reuters reports.

SANAA, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed they hit a military target in the King Khalid Airbase in Saudi Arabia's southwestern city of Khamis Mushait with a bomb-laden drone before dawn on Thursday.

"The attack was precise," Houthi military spokesman Yehya Sarea said in a statement aired by the rebel group's al-Masirah TV.

Meanwhile, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV reported that the Saudi-led coalition forces intercepted a drone attack that the Houthi militia launched from Yemen to Khamis Mushait.

ISTANBUL, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Turkey will host a trilateral meeting with the foreign ministers of Afghanistan and Pakistan on Friday in Istanbul.

The meeting will address the latest developments in the Afghan peace process, the Turkish foreign ministry said in a written statement on Thursday.

Cooperation opportunities in security, energy, connectivity, and irregular migration will be on the agenda as well, it added.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu "will also hold bilateral meetings with his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts," the statement said.

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The Syrian government received a batch of 203,000 COVID-19 vaccines Thursday, the health minister said, in a move aimed at speeding up a sluggish inoculation process in the war-torn country.

The arrival of the United Nations-secured jabs came as a new wave of infections has overwhelmed medical centers around Syria. The AstraZeneca vaccines will be part of a campaign aiming to vaccinate 20% of the country’s population before the end of the year.

JERUSALEM (AP) — A missile launched from Syria was fired into southern Israel early Thursday, setting off air raid sirens near the country’s top-secret nuclear reactor, the Israeli military said. In response, it said it attacked the missile launcher and air-defense systems in neighboring Syria.

ANKARA, April 21. /TASS/: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Russia can buy Turkish weapons and military equipment if it needs it.

"Turkey is selling its drones to those who need them. The deal [with Ukraine] is not aimed against Russia. If Russia has the need to buy our products, it can buy them, just like we earlier purchased its S-400 [air defense systems]," he told the Haber Turk TV channel.

Cavusoglu reiterated that Turkey continues negotiations with Russia about buying the second regiment of S-400 air defense systems.