Middle East & North Africa

ADEN, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement said on Sunday it has seized new territory in the energy-rich provinces of Shabwa and Marib, gains confirmed by sources, as it presses an offensive likely to further complicate international peace efforts.

Military spokesman Yahia Sarea said Houthi forces, who are battling a coalition led by Saudi Arabia, had taken three districts in Shabwa in southern Yemen and two more in Marib, the Saudi-backed government's last northern stronghold.

ISTANBUL, Oct 17 (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that the United States had proposed the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey in return for its investment in the F-35 programme, from which Ankara was removed after purchasing missile defence systems from Russia.

Reuters reported earlier this month that Turkey made a request to the United States to buy 40 Lockheed Martin-made F-16 fighter jets and nearly 80 modernization kits for its existing warplanes. 

17 Oct 2021; MEMO: Syria has accused Israel of being behind the assassination of a high-ranking government official near the border of occupied Syrian Golan Heights yesterday.

Midhat Al-Saleh, 54, an intelligence officer, was the head of Syria's Golan Affairs Office and a former lawmaker. According to the state-run SANA news agency, Saleh was shot outside his home near the village of Ain Eltineh, situated opposite the Druze town of Majdal Shams.

16 Oct 2021; MEMO: As it condemned the killing of Shia protesters in Beirut, Iran declared that the shootings are seditions backed by the "Zionist entity", Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported on Friday.

"Iran believes that the people, the government, the army and the resistance in Lebanon will successfully overcome seditions backed by the Zionist entity," IRNA reported Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh asserting.

16 Oct 2021; MEMO: Thousands of Sudanese demonstrated in front of the presidential palace in Khartoum on Saturday to demand the "restoration of the revolution" and better living conditions, Anadolu Agency reports.

Waving the national flag, demonstrators carried banners reading "Patient people are hungry" and "One people, one army" among others, according to an Anadolu Agency reporter at the scene.

They were also chanting slogans calling for the overthrow of the transitional government.

16 Oct 2021; MEMO: Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the Iran nuclear deal alongside bilateral relations and regional and international developments, according to the country's foreign ministry on Saturday, Anadolu reports.

The two top diplomats discussed over the phone "the latest status of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)," the ministry said in a statement. JCPOA is the formal name of the nuclear agreement.

17 Oct 2021; MEMO: The Public Prosecution of the Court of Appeal in Tunis has launched an investigation on Friday into the statements of former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki on French TV channel France24 last Monday.

The official spokesperson for the Court of Appeal, Habib Tarkhani, confirmed that the Minister of Justice Leila Jaffal had ordered the General Prosecutor of the Court of First Instance in Tunis to start an investigation against Marzouki, based on Article 23 of the Penal Code.

16 Oct 2021; MEMO: Iran has strongly criticised the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s position on Friday, which it accused of "dualism" in its dealings with Iran on the one hand, and Israel on the other.

16 Oct 2021; MEMO: German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday arrived at the Huber Mansion in Istanbul to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Anadolu Agency reports.

Merkel and Erdogan boarded a golf cart and visited the beach area of the mansion.

Standing next to the flags of Turkey and Germany, the two leaders greeted local and foreign journalists in the area.

Later, the two leaders left the area for the scheduled meeting.

16 Oct 2021; MEMO: The United Kingdom may consider the purchase of Turkish drones, Turkey's minister of industry and technology revealed yesterday.

Speaking to CNN Turk, Mustafa Varank said that "the UK is very interested in Turkish armed drones. Now, they have to decide. We presented them with the options. Right now, they're seriously considering these options."