Middle East & North Africa

DOHA (Qatar), Aug 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Chad’s military leader will sign a deal on Monday with more than 40 opposition groups to launch national peace talks, but the central African country’s main rebel outfit has refused to take part.

Under the accord, to be signed in the Qatari capital Doha, talks aimed at paving the way for a presidential election will start on Aug 20.

Since March, Qatar has been mediating between opposition groups and the military government of Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, a general who seized power after his father died in a battle with rebels last year.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Millions of Shiite Muslims — from Iran to Afghanistan and Pakistan — were marking the festival of Ashoura on Monday, one of the most emotional occasions in their religious calendar, commemorating the 7th century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Hussein.

Security forces, particularly in Taliban-run Afghanistan, were on high alert for any violence. In the past, bloody attacks have marred the festival across in the Middle East, as Sunni extremists who view the Shiites as heretics seize on the holy day to target large gatherings of mourners.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — With a cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian militants holding after nearly three days of violence, Gaza’s sole power plant resumed operations Monday as Israel began reopening crossings into the territory.

Israel also lifted security restrictions on southern Israeli communities after the Egyptian-mediated truce took effect late Sunday. Fighting abated, and war-weary people in Gaza and Israel were left picking up the pieces after another round of violence — the worst since an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas last year.

08 August 2022; MEMO: Egyptian sources announced late on Sunday that a ceasefire agreement was reached between Islamic Jihad and Israel to take effect from 11:30pm local time. Officials on both sides confirmed the agreement and thanked Egypt's mediators.

08 August 2022; MEMO: The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas yesterday called on the international community to hold Israel accountable for its crimes, spokesman Hazem Qasem said.

Speaking to Anadolu, Qasem said: "Israel carries out war crimes and state terrorism against the Palestinians. This makes it necessary to hold it accountable at all levels," pointing to the International Criminal Court.

08 August 2022; MEMO: Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Sunday that, "False Israeli calculations reinforce Palestinian resistance and accelerate [the occupation state's] collapse." The IRGC was highly critical of the latest Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip.

08 August 2022; MEMO: The healthcare system in the besieged Gaza Strip is on the verge of collapse, Palestinian officials warned on Sunday. They blame the ongoing 15-year Israeli siege of the occupied Palestinian territory and the large of number of casualties during Israel's latest military offensive.

Moreover, for the fifth consecutive day, Israel has tightened the closure of the Gaza crossings through which food and other basic commodities, including fuel for the sole electricity plant, enter the coastal enclave.

Tehran, IRNA – According to the figures recently released by the Turkish Statistical Institute, the value of trade between Iran and Turkey increased by 37 percent to $3.365 billion in the 6 months of 2022, up from $2.448 billion during the same period a year earlier.

According to the figures recently released by the Turkish Statistical Institute, during six months of 2022, 61-percent growth in Iran’s exports to neighboring Turkey, reaching $1.904 billion in value.

Tehran, IRNA – Iran strongly censured the provocative act of desecrating the holy Quran and insulting Islamic sanctities in front of the Islamic Centre of Hamburg, Germany, on Sunday.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Monday that the insulting move is a blatant example of seditious acts and spreading hatred, which is categorically condemned by all Muslims, monotheists, purified consciousness and believers in coexistence and dialogue among religions.

Hundreds of Israeli settlers forced their way into the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem, according to a Palestinian official.

The official with the Jordan-run Islamic Waqf Department told Anadolu Agency that the settlers entered the site through the mosque's Al-Mugharbah Gate under Israeli police protection.

He said the settlers were escorted by right-wing rabbi Yehuda Glick.

The settler incursions came amid rising tensions across the Palestinian territories over the ongoing Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip.