Middle East & North Africa

ANKARA, January 25. /TASS/. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ruled out the possibility of UN involvement in efforts to create a safe zone in northern Syria.

"Looking at numerous examples, we see that the UN is unable to do anything when it comes to setting up a safe zone. Turkey is the only force that can do that," the Turkish leader said on Friday in the city of Erzurum. His speech was broadcast by the NTV television channel.

TEHRAN, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry censured French foreign minister's recent threats to impose sanctions on Iran over Tehran's ballistic missile program.

Iran's missiles are for deterrence purposes and non-negotiable, said Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi, according to a report by Foreign Ministry on Saturday.

"Iran's military capabilities are part of the country's legitimate defense power and a guarantor of Iran's national security, which is based on the doctrine of deterrence," Qasemi said.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A U.S. Navy veteran detained in Iran in July is being held in connection to a “private complaint,” the semi-official Mehr news agency reported Friday.

Michael White, 46, has been held since July, and is the first known American to have been detained in Iran since Donald Trump became president. His family says he traveled to Iran to visit his girlfriend, who he met online, and was arbitrarily detained.

ANKARA, January 24. /TASS/. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday he was shocked by the decision of US President Donald Trump to recognize Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president.

"I was shocked by Trump's attitude [to the situation in Venezuela]. It is necessary to respect the person who won the election. We are coming out against any anti-democratic actions," Erdogan told a news conference in Ankara after talks with Maltese President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca.

BEIRUT, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The spokesperson for the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Andrea Tenenti said Thursday that the UNIFIL strongly disapproves of the daily Israeli violation of Lebanon's airspace.

"Using Lebanon's airspace violates Lebanon's sovereignty and UN Resolution 1701. These violation contradict with our goals and efforts of minimizing the level of tension while creating a stable atmosphere in southern Lebanon," Tenenti was quoted as saying by Elnashra, an online independent newspaper.

JERUSALEM, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Israel condemned on Thursday a vote by the Irish parliament after it backed a bill to ban imports and sales of goods from territories seized by Israel in 1967.

The proposed legislation would ban the trade in goods or services originated from the West Bank settlements and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

Israel's foreign ministry slammed the vote as an "expression of pure hostility."

ADEN, Yemen, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi met on Thursday with the United Nations (UN) Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths and UN cease-fire monitoring chief Patrick Cammaert in his office in Saudi Arabia's capital of Riyadh.

During their meeting, Hadi discussed with the UN officials the efforts being exerted to solve the country's conflict and reiterated his adherence to peaceful solutions, according to the state-run Saba news agency.

GAZA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- A senior Qatari diplomat arrived on Wednesday night in the Gaza Strip carrying the third financial installment of the Qatari grant, Palestinian security sources and local media in Gaza reported.

The sources and reports said that Mohammed Amadi, Chief of the Qatari Corporation to reconstruct Gaza, entered the Gaza Strip through Erez Crossing point coming from Israel and was carrying 15 million U.S. dollars in suitcases.

DOHA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir left Doha on Wednesday after a two-day visit to Qatar, the state-run Qatar news agency (QNA) reported.

Bashir left the Hamad International Airport this evening and was seen off by Qatar's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan al-Merikhi, said the QNA.

Bashir had a session of talks with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and exchanged views about developments in Sudan.

The emir expressed Qatar's firm stance that is strongly keen on Sudan's unity and stability.

GAZA CITY, Palestine; 23 2019; AA: Since 2000, Israel has destroyed roughly 35 percent of the farmland in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian rights group said Tuesday.

In a statement, the Gaza-based Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights said that, since the eruption of the second Palestinian Intifada (uprising) -- also known as the “Al-Aqsa Intifada” -- in late 2000, Israeli occupation forces have established “buffer zones” in the strip’s easternmost and northernmost areas.