Middle East & North Africa

DAMASCUS, Aug 11 (NNN-SANA) – Abu Salem al-Iraqi, a senior Daesh leader in southern Syria, blew himself up, during a Syrian security operation in the southern province of Daraa, on Tuesday, it was reported yesterday.

A security source said, the Syrian security forces carried out a security operation, which led to al-Iraqi detonating his explosive belt, after being encircled by the Syrian forces, inside a house in the town of Adwan, in the western countryside of Daraa.

Al-Iraqi received several gunshots before detonating his explosive belt, said the report.

CAIRO, Aug 11 (NNN-SPA) – A subsidiary of the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), acquired minority stakes in four Egyptian companies for 1.3 billion U.S. dollars, Egypt’s Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, said yesterday.

This comes as Egypt ramps up its effort to entice foreign investors, the ministry said, in a statement.

TEHRAN, Aug 11 (NNN-IRNA) – The Iranian Navy rescued an Iranian ship, from “unidentified” invading boats, after armed clashes in the Red Sea the night before, the state-run IRIB TV reported yesterday.

Speaking in a televised interview, Rear Admiral Mostafa Tajoddini, deputy commander of the Iranian Navy’s strategic operations, said that, the naval forces immediately rushed to the scene upon receiving a rescue call from the Iranian ship under attack by unidentified boats.

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Torrential rains across southwestern Yemen and the country’s capital of Sanaa have triggered flashfloods and collapsed homes, killing at least 38 people over the past two days, officials said Thursday.

Scores of homes in Sanaa and the provinces of Dhamar and Ibb have completely collapsed or have been significantly damaged, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

10 August 2022; MEMO: An advisor to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has said that Arab states should abide by the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative and refuse to normalise relations with Israel until the Palestinian issue has been resolved. Mahmoud Al-Habbash, who advises Abbas on religious and Islamic affairs, made his comments to Russia's Sputnik news agency.

10 August 2022; MEMO: Kuwait says it considers freeing the Middle East of nuclear weapons a goal that will not be conceded to achieve security, safety and stability in the region, calling on Israel to join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

10 August 2022; MEMO: Dozens of Palestinians were thrown out of a bus in Tel Aviv after three Jewish passengers got on and refused to travel with non-Jews on board. The incident, which is the latest of many racist practices exposing the crime of apartheid committed by Israel, happened on Thursday last week on a number 288 bus, which travels from the Israeli capital to the Jewish-only illegal settlement in occupied West Bank.

10 August 2022; MEMO: The International Organisation for Migration has said that there are more than nine  million migrants and refugees from 130 countries currently living in Egypt.

This figure includes the four main communities – four million Sudanese, 1.5 million Syrians, one million Yemenis and one million Libyans.

11 August 2022; MEMO: The Jewish Agency might end its physical presence in Russia and start working online and via telephone, a senior official was reported by Israeli media saying yesterday.

A meeting took place at the agency's headquarters in Jerusalem yesterday to discuss how to move the operation from Russia to Israel.

"We are examining all the options for a rainy day," the Times of Israel reported a Jewish Agency official saying, speaking on condition of anonymity.

11 August 2022; MEMO: The Palestinian Justice and Development Organisation warned yesterday that Israel's assassination of Fatah leaders would lead the Oslo Accords to collapse.