Middle East & North Africa

Jordan king: If Israel wants a conflict 'we're quite prepared'

29 Dec 2022; MEMO: Jordan's King Abdullah II has told CNN that his country is "quite prepared" for a conflict with the new Israeli government if it wants a conflict with Amman.

"If people [Israeli government] want to get into a conflict with us, we're quite prepared," King Abdullah told CNN's Becky Anderson in an exclusive interview conducted earlier this month.

Iran: Nuclear deal is 'available' but not forever

29 Dec 2022; MEMO: The chance for nuclear negotiations is still "available" but it will not remain so "forever", Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said yesterday, criticising the "hypocrisy" of Western powers.

Abdollahian was speaking at the start of his official visit to Oman at a time when the nuclear negotiations have reached a standstill and tensions have increased between the Islamic Republic, Europe and the United States.

Lebanon's Geagea slams Hezbollah's demand for pro-resistance president

29 Dec 2022; MEMO: The head of the Lebanese Forces Party, Samir Geagea, has criticised what he described as an "attempt to impose a president" by the Hezbollah-led camp, by demanding that the president supports and protects the Lebanese "resistance".

"What is happening today is not due to the might of the Axis of Defiance, but rather due to the weakness of those who should have shouldered their responsibilities and are still refusing to do so," Geagea said at a party event.

Iran pressuring Syria to grant it concessions similar to Russia

29 Dec 2022; MEMO: Iran is pressuring the Syrian regime of Bashar Al-Assad to obtain sovereign concessions and agreements in return for contributing to resolving the suffocating economic crisis afflicting the areas under the regime's control, Western diplomats said.

Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper quoted diplomats as saying that Tehran had surprised the Assad regime with draft agreements during preparations for the visit of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

German bank loans Morocco 56m USD for water projects

RABAT, Dec 29 (NNN-MAP) — Germany’s state-owned KfW Development Bank and Morocco signed on Tuesday three loan agreements worth 52.6 million euros for water projects.

The agreements were signed by Abderrahim El Hafidi, general director of the state-owned Moroccan Office for Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE), and Jorg Dux, head of KfW’s water and sanitation department in North Africa.

The loan will increase and strengthen drinking water production, treatment, pumping, and transportation systems in many small and medium-sized towns, the agreement said.

Iraq's mercurial Moqtada Sadr risks isolation with political retreat

BAGHDAD, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Moqtada al-Sadr, the Muslim Shi'ite cleric who dominated Iraqi politics for two decades, seems isolated for now after his move to step back from formal politics emboldened his Iranian-backed rivals and raised the prospect of fresh factional flare-ups.

Iran, which already controls dozens of heavily-armed Shi'ite militias in its oil-producing neighbour, may now have an opportunity to expand its influence over Iraq's government, a worst case scenario for the United States and its allies.

Turkey: Erdogan drops retirement age requirement for millions of Turks

ANKARA, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan eliminated a retirement age requirement on Wednesday in a move that allows more than 2 million workers to retire immediately, less than six months before an election.

The presidential announcement came during a Wednesday news conference on the popular policy move.

Erdogan's ruling AK Party delivered a hefty hike to the minimum wage last week as part of a campaign to win back support eroded by inflation, a fall in the lira, and a sharp drop in living standards.

Türkiye's economy to feel aftershocks of 2022 in new year

ANKARA, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- Although Türkiye's soaring inflation is set to drop in 2023, the country's economy is not expected to be out of the woods as growth is now on a downward trend, experts said.

The Turkish economy bounced back strongly from the COVID-19 pandemic to expand by 11.4 percent in 2021, its highest rate in a decade.

The country's annual inflation eased to 84.4 percent in November 2022, from a 24-year high of 85.5 percent the previous month, slowing for the first time in 18 months, official data showed.

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