Middle East & North Africa

ISTANBUL; 28 Jan 2019; AA: Turkish opposition party leader strongly on Sunday condemned U.S. President Donald Trump's “coup attempt” against Venezuelan president.

“I strongly condemn Trump’s coup attempt against [Venezuelan President Nicolas] Maduro and I hope Venezuela survives this hardship without being dragged into civil war conditions,” Devlet Bahceli, head of opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), said at his party’s group dinner in Istanbul.

ALGIERS, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Algeria and France on Sunday signed a new convention for the extradition of criminals as part of the judicial and security cooperation between the two countries.

The agreement was signed by visiting French Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet and her Algerian counterpart Tayeb Louh in the capital Algiers, Algeria Press Service (APS) reported.

It covers cooperation in the areas of mutual legal assistance, counter-terrorism and information exchange, APS said.

TEHRAN, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Iran may adopt offensive military approaches to protect its interests, Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Mohammad Baqeri, said on Sunday.

While continuing to adhere to its broad doctrine of defense, the Iranian military forces would adopt offensive tactics when necessary, Baqeri was quoted as saying by Press TV.

RAMALLAH/ GAZA CITY; 27 Jan 2019; AA: Hundreds of Palestinians on Saturday paid farewell to three people killed by Israeli army fire in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Mourners attended the funeral of Ahmed Hamed, 16, who was shot dead by Israeli forces in Ramallah on Friday for allegedly hurling stones at soldiers.

Palestinian mourners also laid Hamdan al-Arda, 60, to his rest in the town of Arrabeh in Jenin.

ANKARA; 26 Jan 2019; AA: Millions of Syrians living in Turkey will be able to return to their homeland after Ankara liberates Syria's Manbij, Tal Rifaat and the region East of the Euphrates River from terrorists, Turkish president said on Saturday.

CAIRO (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron is headed to Egypt with a large delegation on a three-day trip to reinforce ties with the Arab world’s most populous country.

He arrives Sunday in the country’s south to visit the temple of Abu Simbel and other archaeological sites, before meeting his counterpart Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and signing accords between the two states on Monday.

27 Jan 2019; AFP: The chief of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement has warned Israel against continuing strikes in Syria targeting mainly Iranian positions, saying it could fuel war in the region.

Israel's army has since 2013 claimed hundreds of attacks on what it says are Iranian military targets and arms deliveries to Tehran-backed Hezbollah, with the goal of stopping its main enemy Iran from entrenching itself militarily in neighbouring Syria.

27 Jan 2019; DW: Kurdish protesters have set fire to tanks and equipment at a Turkish military base in northern Iraq. The incident, the first of its kind, left two protesters dead and reportedly forced Turkish troops to leave the base.

Angry protesters stormed a Turkish military base in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on Saturday, damaging military vehicles and equipment in a confrontation that left two people dead and another 15 injured.

DAMASCUS, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- The forces of the U.S.-led coalition bombarded the Islamic State (IS)-held farms in Syria's eastern Euphrates region, killing 42 people, including 13 civilians, a war monitor reported on Saturday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the overnight shelling from the U.S.-run base in al-Omal oil field targeted farms controlled by the IS group in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour province.

The death toll could likely rise due to the number of critically wounded people.

TEHRAN, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- The large-scale military drills of the Iranian Army's Ground Forces in the central country was wrapped up on Saturday seeking to practice offensive tactics.

The massive war game, code-named "Eqtedar," lasted for two days in a vast area in Nasrabad region in Iran's central province of Isfahan.

A total of 12,000 army forces took in the exercise carrying out new offensive tactics in accordance with structural changes in the Army Ground Force, Commander of the Iranian Army Ground Force Brigadier General Kiomars Heidari said.