Middle East & North Africa

JERUSALEM (AP) — At least four Palestinian gunmen were killed in shootouts with Israeli security forces during a sweeping West Bank arrest operation cracking down on the Islamic militant group Hamas on Sunday, the Israeli military said.

Sunday’s violence was the deadliest between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank in recent weeks and came amid heightened tensions following this year’s 11-day war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey’s president has said he would consider buying a second Russian missile system in defiance of strong objections by the United States.

In an interview with American broadcaster CBS News, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would have to decide its defense systems on its own.

ANKARA, September 25. /TASS/: Russian freighter Rusich-10 and Turkish freighter Tahsin Imamoglu collided in the Bosporus Strait Saturday, Turkish Coast Guard reported.

"Nobody was killed or injured in the collision, only the ships themselves were damaged. Coast Guard tow vessels were dispatched at the site," the agency said.

Before that, another incident involving a Russian ship happened in the Strait.

GAZA, Sept 25 (Reuters) - The Palestinian Authority urged Sudan's government on Saturday to hand over assets it has seized as part of a crackdown targeting Sudan-based operations to fund the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Sudan was long an ally of Hamas under former President Omar al-Bashir, but since he was overthrown in 2019, Sudanese authorities have taken control of investments and companies they say channelled funding to the Islamist group for years. 

TUNIS, Sept 25 (Reuters) - More than 100 prominent officials of Tunisia's Islamist Ennahda party, including lawmakers and former ministers, resigned on Saturday in protest at the leadership's performance, the biggest blow yet to the party which is facing a severe split.

Ennahda, the largest party in parliament, has been thrown into crisis by its response to President Kais Saied's sacking of the government and suspension of parliament on July 25, an intervention the opposition called a coup.

Sept 25 (Reuters) - Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Saturday that when his government says it will return soon to talks on resuming compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, it means when Tehran has completed its review of the nuclear file.

On Friday, Amirabdollahian told reporters in New York that Iran would return to talks “very soon,” but gave no specific date.

In remarks broadcast on state TV channel IRINN on Saturday, Amirabdollahian said, “People keep asking how soon is soon. Does it mean days, weeks or months?”

TRIPOLI, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah said Saturday that he will not allow another war to erupt in the country, pledging to put an end to the state of division in Libya.

"We will not allow the division to continue for any reason. There will be no more war," Dbeibah told his supporters who were protesting here against the Libyan House of Representatives (parliament).

BAGHDAD, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi government on Saturday declared its rejection of local calls for normalization of relations with Israel as such a move is "prohibited by the Iraqi laws."

A statement by the media office of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi confirmed that "the concept of normalization is constitutionally, legally, and politically rejected in the Iraqi state, and that the government clearly expressed Iraq's firm position in support of the Palestinian right in establishing an independent state with al-Quds (Jerusalem) as its capital."

25 Sep 2021; MEMO: The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas on Friday called for Head of the Sovereignty Council of Sudan Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok to stop harassing Palestinians in the country.

24 Sep 2021; MEMO: The UN called on Tunisian political parties yesterday to start an inclusive, comprehensive dialogue to resolve the country's issues, Anadolu has reported. This, said a UN spokesman, would be in line with democratic values.