Middle East & North Africa

09 Oct 2021; MEMO: A Sudanese military delegation has secretly visited Israel and discussed bilateral relations, Al Arabiya TV and Al-Sudani newspaper revealed on Friday.

The delegation included Rapid Support Forces Commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and Head of Sudan's state-run defence manufacturer Mirghani Idris Suleiman.

Sudan joined the Abraham Accords to normalise ties with Israel but has not enjoyed the same progress in relations as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain have with Israel.

09 Oct 2021; MEMO: Syrian regime President Bashar Al-Assad has allowed his uncle back into the country after a decades-long exile in France, news reports revealed on Friday, noting that Al-Assad allowed his uncle's return to avoid a four-year imprisonment.

Rifaat Al-Assad, 84, arrived in Damascus on Thursday, pro-regime Al-Watan newspaper posted on its Facebook page.

09 Oct 2021; MEMO: Algeria, the main backer of the Polisario Front, called Thursday for the withdrawal of Moroccan forces from the Guerguerat buffer zone in Western Sahara to facilitate a settlement to the conflict in the region, after the appointment of a new UN envoy.

On Wednesday, the United Nations appointed 74-year-old Italian, Steffan de Mistura, as the new envoy for Western Sahara, after refusing 12 candidates, either by Morocco or the Polisario Front, since the position became vacant in May 2019.

09 Oct 2021; MEMO: Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has announced boycotting the US and its officials, however, he has continued holding secret meetings with US officials in Ramallah, The Times of Israel revealed on Friday.

Abbas has also ordered all Palestinian officials not to meet with the Americans following the closure of the US Consulate in occupied Jerusalem in 2018.

09 Oct 2021; MEMO: Border Guard Commander in the Iranian Law Enforcement Force Brigadier-General Ahmed Ali Goudarzi confirmed that Israeli espionage in Azerbaijan is being "fully monitored", Al Mayadeen reported on Friday.

Goudarzi stressed that his country's border, especially in the north and northwest: "Is safe, and there is nothing to worry about."

09 Oct 2021; MEMO: An Israeli court in Jerusalem has revoked a previous decision of the Magistrate's Court permitting "silent prayers" for Jews in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Quds News Network reported on Friday.

Reporting Israeli public broadcaster Kan: "The Israeli police filed an appeal against the decision of the Magistrate's Court that prevented the deportation of a settler who performed a silent prayer at Al-Aqsa Mosque."

08 Oct 2021; MEMO: As many as 2,590 medical interns resigned in Israel yesterday in protest of the 26-hour shifts they are forced to work.

The doctors-in-training signed off on a letter that was delivered to the Tel Aviv District Health office by Dr. Ray Bitton, head of the Mirsham organisation of medical interns.

The resignation came a day after the interns rejected a government proposal to gradually reduce shifts to 18 hours by 2026, but only in ten hospitals in outlying areas.

08 Oct 2021; MEMO: A leading Syrian Kurdish politician said yesterday the United States will stay on in Syria to destroy Daesh, build infrastructure and remain a player in the search for a political settlement after more than ten years of civil war, Reuters reports.

08 Oct 2021; MEMO: Israel's apartheid regime became the subject of a dispute recently in the Hebrew edition of the Haaretz newspaper between leading Israeli human rights attorney Michael Sfard and South Africa's Chief Rabbi Zeev Warren Goldstein.

08 Oct 2021; MEMO: Polling stations have been set up in Iraq today to allow security forces, asylum seekers and prisoners to vote in the general elections on a "special voting day."

Election centres in many districts across the country have opened their doors.

Intensive security measures have been taken at the centres to prevent any terrorist attacks.