Middle East & North Africa

Dubai, Oct 15 (AP/PTI) Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in the United Arab Emirates on his first visit to the oil-rich nation in over a decade.

Putin landed Tuesday in Abu Dhabi after earlier visiting Saudi Arabia.

He was met at the airport by Abu Dhabi's powerful crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

While in Saudi Arabia, one topic of discussion was oil production.

ABU DHABI, October 15. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged that Russia is willing to advance cooperation with the United Arab Emirates in the space field. The leader named satellite navigation and launching spacecraft into orbit as promising areas of cooperation.

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish police detained four mayors from a pro-Kurdish party in dawn raids, widening a crackdown since Ankara launched an incursion into northern Syria a week ago, state media and the party said on Tuesday.

The pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) mayors of the Kurdish-majority districts of Hakkari, Yuksekova, Ercis and Nusaybin, near Turkey’s borders with Syria and Iraq, were held over terrorism links, the HDP and Anadolu news agency said, without elaborating.

BEIRUT, Oct 15 (NNN-NNA) – Lebanese President, Michel Aoun, slammed Israeli policies of contradicting all international laws, treaties and customs, a statement by the president’s office said.

“Israel violates other states’ sovereignty, occupies the Golan Heights, while declaring Al-Quds as its capital and occupying Palestinian territories,” Aoun said, during an event in the capital Beirut.

Aoun also referred to Israel’s violation of international laws as a dangerous indicator of what is being prepared for the region.

TEHRAN, Oct 15 (NNN-IRNA) — Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani welcomed the reopening of Ireland’s embassy in Tehran, saying the move will pave the way for better relations between the two countries. 

“Reopening of the Irish Embassy in Tehran will also pave the way for further development of trade ties as well,” said Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani on Monday. 

He made the remarks in a meeting with his Irish counterpart in Belgrade, Serbia. 

TRIPOLI, Oct 15 (NNN-Xinhua) — Libya’s Immigration Control Department in the eastern city of Benghazi on Monday announced the deportation of more than 100 illegal immigrants to Egypt and Nigeria.

The department said that 98 immigrants of Egyptian nationality were deported from Benghazi to Egypt, and 13 Nigerian immigrants to their country.

The International Organization for Migration said that there are more than 650,000 illegal immigrants in Libya and about 6,000 of them are being held in detention centers, including women and children.

TRIPOLI, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Libya's Immigration Control Department in the eastern city of Benghazi on Monday announced the deportation of more than 100 illegal immigrants to Egypt and Nigeria.

The department said that 98 immigrants of Egyptian nationality were deported from Benghazi to Egypt, and 13 Nigerian immigrants to their country.

The International Organization for Migration said on Sunday that there are more than 650,000 illegal immigrants in Libya and about 6,000 of them are being held in detention centers, including women and children.

TRIPOLI, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Libya's UN-backed government late Monday condemned an airstrike that hit a house in the capital Tripoli and killed three children.

"The Presidential Council of the Government of National Accord condemns in the strongest terms the airstrike that was carried out this morning on al-Fernaj neighborhood in Tripoli, which killed and injured several citizens including women and children and frightened residents," the government said in a statement.

BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian fighters vowed to kill “pigs” and “infidels,” paraded their Kurdish captives in front of cameras and, in one graphic video, fired several rounds into a man lying on the side of a highway with his hands bound behind his back.

They are part of the self-styled Syrian National Army, the shock troops in Turkey’s offensive against U.S.-allied Kurdish forces who were abandoned last week after President Donald Trump ordered the withdrawal of American troops from northern Syria.

AKCAKALE, Turkey (AP) — Syrian government troops moved into towns and villages in northeastern Syria on Monday, including the flashpoint region of Manbij, setting up a potential clash with Turkish-led forces advancing in the area as long-standing alliances in the region began to shift or crumble following the pullback of U.S. forces.