Middle East & North Africa

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Ethiopia’s prime minister said Friday that Eritrea has agreed to withdraw its forces from the Tigray region, where witnesses have described them looting, killing and raping civilians.

The statement by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office comes after intense pressure from the United States and others to address the deadly crisis in Tigray.

Abiy’s statement after a visit to Eritrea said that Ethiopian forces will take over guarding the border areas “effective immediately.”

25 Mar 2021; MEMO: According to local Syrian sources, soldiers affiliated with Bashar Al-Assad's regime have fled to join the militia of retired Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar in Libya due to the regime's failure to pay their salaries.

26 Mar 2021; MEMO: A state of popular anger has prevailed in Kuwait following the discovery of Israeli food products being sold in local markets after it was imported from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Kuwaiti activists circulated on social media a photo of the Israeli-made hummus which they said was being sold in Kuwaiti cooperative societies after being imported from the UAE.

26 Mar 2021; MEMO: The Palestinian Authority and Hamas have agreed to establish a "national unity government", a senior official announced yesterday.

According to Jibril Rajoub, the accord is based on an "internationally-recognised political document between Fatah and Hamas." He pointed out that it "paves the way for a national unity government after the elections."

25 Mar 2021; MEMO: A container ship blocking the Suez Canal like a "beached whale" sent new shockwaves through global trade today as officials stopped all ships entering the channel and the salvage company said it may take weeks to free, Reuters reported.

25 Mar 2021; MEMO: The Palestinian Commission of Detainees' and Ex-Detainees' Affairs has accused the Israeli occupation police and jailers of physically assaulting and maltreating a Palestinian child from Jerusalem during his detention, the Palestinian Information Centre reported.

According to the group's lawyer, 17-year-old Nouruddin Obeid, from the occupied East Jerusalem district of Issawiya, was kidnapped by occupation forces on 23 December 2020.

25 Mar 2021; MEMO: Turkish Coast Guards have rescued a total of 468 asylum seekers who were illegally pushed back by the Greek side into Turkish territorial waters in the Aegean Sea, according to official figures.

According to the Turkish Coast Guard Command, between 1 January and 24 March, at least four asylum seekers lost their lives trying to cross the Aegean.

Ismailia (Egypt), Mar 26 (AP-PTI) A giant container ship remained stuck sideways Friday in Egypt's Suez Canal, as authorities race to free the vessel and reopen traffic in a crucial East-West waterway for global shipping.

The Ever Given, a Panama-flagged ship that carries cargo between Asia and Europe, ran aground Tuesday in the narrow, man-made canal dividing continental Africa from the Sinai Peninsula.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A fuel tank at an oil facility in Saudi Arabia caught fire after being struck by a projectile, the kingdom said Friday, an attack that came on the sixth anniversary of its entry into Yemen’s yearslong civil war.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the assault at Jizan in southwest Saudi Arabia near the border with Yemen, though it came during what Saudi defense officials described as a barrage of eight bomb-carrying drones launched by the Houthi rebels.

DAMASCUS, March 25 (NNN-Xinhua) — The Syrian Health Ministry announced here on Wednesday it will provide 75 tons of oxygen to Lebanon for COVID-19 patients.

The announcement came during a joint press conference held by Syrian Health Minister Hasan al-Ghabbash and his Lebanese counterpart Hamad Hasan in Syrian capital Damascus.

The oxygen will be delivered in three batches starting Wednesday, and it won’t affect Syria’s stock of oxygen, according to Hasan.