Middle East & North Africa

18 Mar 2021; MEMO: An Iraqi security source announced on Thursday that a convoy of trucks carrying logistical equipment for the international coalition forces in southern Iraq was targeted with explosives.

A lieutenant in the Diwaniyah police department told Anadolu Agency: "An explosive device exploded on the highway as a convoy of civilian trucks carrying logistical equipment belonging to the coalition forces passed by."

TEHRAN, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Iran is determined to strengthen its deterrent power and continue with its missile program, Defense Minister Amir Hatami said Thursday.

Despite all restrictions and problems, significant progress has been made in Iran's defense industry in the current Iranian calendar year ending March 20, said Hatami in a gathering of the Defense Ministry's high-ranking officials in the capital Tehran, Tasnim news agency reported.

"In the fields of defense and missile power ... we will continue moving toward great objectives with all our power," he added.

18 Mar 2021; MEMO: More than 100 Palestinian homes face demolition and about 1,550 residents, including more than 800 children, will be made homeless at the hands of Israel's Jerusalem Municipality, Arab48 reported yesterday.

This comes as the Israeli municipality cancelled all agreements with the Palestinian residents of the Silwan neighbourhood.

18 Mar 2021; MEMO: An Egyptian court sentenced prominent female activist Sanaa Seif to a year and a half in prison on Wednesday for spreading false news, her sister and judicial sources said, reported Reuters.

18 Mar 2021; MEMO: The UK Ambassador to Ankara Dominick Chilcott has announced that his country looks forward to signing a comprehensive agreement with Turkey to ensure a bright future for bilateral trade relations and joint investments between the two countries.

17 Mar 2021; MEMO: Saudi Arabia is seeking to buy armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a press briefing yesterday. Erdogan made the remarks after voicing his displeasure at Riyadh's decision to carry out joint military exercises with Greece, Turkey's long-standing rival.

ALGIERS, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum on Tuesday met with UN Special Envoy to Libya Jan Kubis over the developments of the war-torn country after the swearing-in of a new government.

Boukadoum said on his official Twitter account that he had "constructive" talks with the UN envoy and they "hailed the recent positive steps" by Libya to "reunite its ranks."

They reaffirmed their determination to support the peace and reconciliation process in Libya, the Algerian top diplomat noted.

17 Mar 2021; MEMO: Israel's President Reuven Rivlin and Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi travelled to Europe on Tuesday in order to lobby against the International Criminal Court (ICC) decision to open an investigation into possible breaches of international law in the occupied West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

17 Mar 2021; MEMO: A Palestinian MP said on Tuesday that Rachel Corrie's blood is a "witness to Israeli crimes". Huda Naim made her comment in a statement issued on the anniversary of the death of the US-born pro-Palestine activist, who was killed on 16 March 2003 as she was trying to stop an Israeli bulldozer demolishing Palestinian homes in Rafah.

16 Mar 2021; MEMO: A four-year-old Canadian girl has flown home after spending two years in a detention camp in northeast Syria leaving behind her mother who travelled there to marry a Daesh fighter and was not allowed to return.

Her mother is one of 12,000 women and children from 60 countries detained in camps for families of people suspected of being Daesh members.