Middle East & North Africa

RAMALLAH, Aug 20 (NNN-WAFA) – A Palestinian man was killed yesterday by Israeli soldiers, in the West Bank city of Tubas, the Palestinian health ministry said.

The Palestinian health ministry identified the man as 58-year-old Salah Tawfiq Sawafta, and said, he succumbed to his wounds after he was shot in the head.

Salah Sawafta, 58, died from critical injuries after being shot in the head by Israeli soldiers, the ministry said in a press statement.

ISTANBUL, Aug 20 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Saturday the United Nations is working with the United States and European Union to overcome obstacles to Russian food and fertilisers reaching world markets.

Guterres said that under a U.N.-brokered deal agreed in Turkey last month to resume Ukraine's grain exports cut off since Russia's invasion in February, more than 650,000 metric tonnes of grain and other food was already being exported.

DAMASCUS, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- A missile struck the vicinity of the largest U.S. base in Syria in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour on Friday night, a war monitor reported.

The missile landed near the al-Omar oil field, which has been taken by the United States as its military base, and no casualties were reported, said the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"It is likely that the missile comes from the area where the Iranian militias have influence in the west of the Euphrates," said the observatory.

DAMASCUS, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Up to 291 Syrian soldiers and Islamic State (IS) militants have been killed in confrontations between the two sides since the beginning of this year, a war monitor reported on Friday night.

The death toll includes 136 members of IS killed by Russian airstrikes in desert regions of the provinces of Homs, Sweida, Hama, Raqqa Deir al-Zour and Aleppo, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

ISTANBUL (AP) — A passenger bus collided Saturday with emergency teams handling an earlier road accident in southern Turkey, leaving at least 15 people dead and nearly two dozen injured, officials said.

Three firefighters, two paramedics and two journalists were among those killed on the highway between Gaziantep and Nizip, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu tweeted. The other eight fatalities were on the bus, he added.

Gaziantep Gov. Davut Gul said 22 other people were injured in the incident.

19 August 2022; MEMO: Turkiye's Central Bank shocked markets, Thursday, with a cut to its benchmark policy rate, despite inflation in the country sitting near 80 per cent, Financial Times reports.

According to the report, the Turkish Central Bank's statement, Thursday, said that the committee expects the "disinflation process to start" and that there are signals of a "loss of momentum in economic activity."

19 August 2022; MEMO: The Head of Lebanon's powerful Iran-backed group, Hezbollah, said on Friday the outcome of nuclear talks in Vienna would have no impact on maritime talks aimed at delineating Lebanon's border with Israel, Reuters reports.

"Whether a nuclear deal with Iran is signed or not, if the US mediator does not give Lebanon what it asked for in terms of its rights, we are heading towards an escalation – we are heading towards a problem," said Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in a televised speech, without elaborating.

19 August 2022; MEMO: Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, on Friday, met Iraqi Shia Cleric, Ammar Al-Hakim to discuss the lingering political crisis in Iraq, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The meeting came after the leader of Iraq's Hikma Movement, a political coalition, arrived in the Kingdom on an unannounced visit, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

The Agency reported that, during the meeting, Saudi-Iraqi relations alongside a number of issues of common interest were discussed.

19 August 2022; MEMO: The international football governing body FIFA said that 2.45 million tickets have been sold for the 2022 World Cup which is set to be held in Qatar.

BEIRUT, Aug 19 (Reuters) - The head of Lebanon's pro-Iran group Hezbollah said on Friday he had no immediate comment on the stabbing attack against Indian-born author Salman Rushdie in the United States because the group was still gathering information.

Speaking in a televised address, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah added that he saw an "urgent need" for his group to make a statement on the attack, which has been blamed on a 24-year-old American citizen of Lebanese origin.