Middle East & North Africa

TEHRAN, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi warned on Wednesday that Iran's response to any Israeli aggression against its interests in the region or in Syria will be "crushing."

Mousavi said over the past 70 years Israel has resorted to violence to occupy Palestine and target its neighboring countries.

Iran's presence in Syria has been at invitation with the aim of fighting terrorism, the spokesman added.

BAGHDAD, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces on Wednesday reopened areas in downtown Baghdad and warned that anti-government protests go on only in al-Tahrir Square under the protection of the Iraqi forces.

A statement by Baghdad Operations Command (BOC), responsible for the security of Baghdad province, said that the security forces reopened al-Khalani and Wathba Squares, as well as al-Sinak Bridge and al-Rashid Street, and the security forces want to protect the demonstration in Tahrir Square and at the same time to secure traffic movement in the capital.

DAMASCUS (AP) — A Syrian was killed and another was wounded when government supporters attacked American troops and tried to block their way as their convoy drove through an army checkpoint in northeastern Syria, prompting a rare clash, state media and activists reported.

The U.S. military said its force came under fire, and that troops responded in self-defense. It said an investigation of the incident was underway.

JERUSALEM (AP) — The U.N. human rights office on Wednesday released a list of more than 100 companies it said are complicit in violating Palestinian human rights by operating in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank — a first-ever international attempt to name and shame businesses that has drawn fierce Israeli condemnation.

ANKARA, February 12. /TASS/: Turkey is determined to drive Syrian forces beyond its observation points in Syria’s Idlib province, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said before the Parliament Wednesday.

"Turkey is determined to drive the forces of the regime [of Syrian President Bashar Assad] beyond the Idlib de-escalation zone boundaries, beyond our observation points, before the end of February," he said, adding that Ankara is "ready to use any necessary force."

12 February 2020; AFP: Turkey's president accused Russia of committing "massacres" in its support of the Syrian regime on Wednesday, escalating a war of words as Turkish reinforcements arrived on the ground.

12 Feb 2020; MEMO: A Russian delegation yesterday left the Turkish capital, Ankara, after intensive discussions on halting clashes in the Syrian governorate of Idlib.

“The Russian delegation left Turkey without an agreement on ways to stop the clashes that killed 13 Turkish soldiers in Syria in just one week,” Reuters quoted a Turkish diplomatic source as saying.

12 Feb 2020; MEMO: Egypt’s population has hit the 100 million mark, Ahram Online has reported.

According to the official Egyptian news website, the live counter “clock” of the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) showed that the swelling population at home reached the landmark figure at 2:30pm yesterday.

The figure excludes those Egyptians who live abroad.

12 Feb 2020; MEMO: Yisrael Beiteinu MK Eli Avidar suggested yesterday that US President Donald Trump would help enable the formation of a coalition government after Israel’s forthcoming election.

Speaking in an interview with “The Land of Israel Network”, Avidar declared that his party’s leader, Avigdor Lieberman, “wants a Zionist government”.

12 Feb 2020; MEMO: Turkey said on Tuesday 51 Syrian soldiers were killed in northwest Syria as Turkish-backed rebels struck back against Russian-supported government forces who had made gains in their campaign to eliminate the last insurgent bastion in the country.

The Turkish Defence Ministry cited sources on the ground for the information, adding that two Syrian tanks and one ammunition store were destroyed as well.