Middle East & North Africa

22 Nov 2021; MEMO: Tunisian President Kais Saied said on Saturday that preparations are underway to end the exceptional measures he took in July which included freezing parliament and missing the government and ending the immunity granted to ministers, the presidency said in a statement.

21 Nov 2021; MEMO: Iran claimed 44 million people have been vaccinated against COVID-19, The New Arab reported.

The country of 85 million people has been hit particularly hard by the global pandemic, which has recorded 128,000 Covid deaths, and has the highest numbers in the Middle East.

The health ministry said it recorded 118 new deaths, and 3,500 new cases in the past 24 hours.

22 Nov 2021; MEMO: Some 75 Jordanian MPs yesterday condemned the UK's plan to designate the Palestinian movement Hamas as a "terrorist" organisation, considering the move "aggression" against Palestinians and Arabs.

21 Nov 2021; MEMO: The fiancee of murdered Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi has urged Canadian superstar Justin Bieber to cancel his appearance at Formula One (F1) in protest of a regime that kills its critics".

The pop star is due to perform at the iconic F1 race on December 5th in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

In an article at the Washington Post, Hatice Cengiz penned a letter to Bieber, saying his invitation to Jeddah "comes directly from [Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman – MBS]".

TEHRAN, November 21. /TASS/: Russian presidential special envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev and Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin met with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Teheran to discuss the situation in Syria, the press service of the Iranian foreign ministry said on Sunday.

"After a visit to Damascus, Lavrentyev and Vershinin arrived in Teheran, where they met with the Iranian foreign minister," it said, adding that the Russian delegation held talks on the bilateral relations and regional cooperation, including on Syria.

TEHRAN, Nov 21 (NNN-IRNA) – Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, has condemned Britain’s decision, to declare the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) a terrorist organisation.

“The political solution for Palestine lies in a referendum, among the indigenous residents (Muslim, Jewish, and Christian),” Abdollahian wrote in a tweet, shortly before midnight on Friday.

“The rights of Palestinians cannot be trampled by distorting facts,” he said.

TUNIS, Nov 21 (Reuters) - The United States will offer support to Tunisia once it has announced dates for political reform, a Tunisia presidency statement said, nearly four months after President Kais Saied seized political power.

The statement added that the U.S. Secretary of State had informed Saied in a phone call that the country would continue to support Tunisia with international institutions and other countries once reforms were announced, and asked that Tunisia ended a state of emergency quickly.

TRIPOLI, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Libya's interim prime minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah registered as a candidate for the presidency on Sunday despite having vowed not to do so as a condition of taking his current post and despite contested election rules that may prevent him from standing.

Dbeibah's entry into a race that now features many of Libya's main players of the past decade of chaos adds to the turmoil over a vote that is due to take place within five weeks, but for which rules have not yet been agreed.

TEHRAN, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- A cyberattack on Iran's Mahan Airlines has been repelled, an official of the airline announced on Sunday.

Amir Hossein Zolanvari, manager of public relations of Mahan Airlines, confirmed to the official IRNA news agency the cyberattack earlier on the day, saying "this is not a new issue. Such attacks have occurred before and each time the situation has been controlled by the company."

The Mahan cyber security team acted "smartly and timely to thwart the attack," he was quoted as saying.

TEHRAN, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has had a number of "direct battles" with the U.S. forces in the Gulf, in which nine of its forces have been "martyred," Alireza Tangsiri, the navy commander of the IRGC, announced on Sunday.

Tangsiri said the nine soldiers died to "defend the territory of our beloved country," adding the IRGC has made the United States realize the "sovereignty of the Islamic republic in the maritime arena."