Middle East & North Africa

BAGHDAD, Jun 4 (NNN-NINA) – Dozens of protesters, last night, stormed two American restaurants in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, causing damages, a security source said.

Angry protesters broke into a KFC restaurant on Palestine Street in eastern Baghdad, before being dispersed by security forces, who fired bullets into the air, the source from the Iraqi Interior Ministry, said.

TUNIS, June 4 (NNN-XINHUA) — Tunisia dismantled a human trafficking network of eight Tunisians, including five women and a migrant smuggler, in a joint operation, the Tunisian National Guard said.

This network is involved in human trafficking and financing illegal border crossings by sub-Saharan Africans, the Tunisian National Guard said in a statement posted on its Facebook page.

DAMASCUS, Jun 3 (NNN-SANA) – Israeli airstrikes after midnight Monday, killed 12 pro-Iranian militias in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The militias, consisting of Syrian and non-Syrian nationals, have a significant presence in the area surrounding the city of Aleppo, it said.

The attack hit several sites in the countryside of Aleppo, mainly in the town of Hayyan, north-west of Aleppo. Several explosions were heard across the city.

26 May 2024; MEMO: Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced Sunday that it captured Israeli soldiers during an operation in the Gaza Strip, Anadolu Agency reports.

But Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee denied the claim on X, saying that there was “no incident of soldier capturing.”

26 May 2024; MEMO: Palestinian resistance group Hamas said Sunday that it had fired a salvo of rockets into Israel’s coastal city of Tel Aviv, Anadolu Agency reports.

The group’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said the attack “was in response to the Israeli massacres against civilians.”

Israeli Army Radio said that sirens had sounded in the greater Tel Aviv area in central Israel.

Sunday’s rocket fire was the first in four months on the Israeli city since Jan. 29.

26 May 2024; MEMO: Saudi Arabia appointed a new ambassador to Syria on Sunday, for the first time since 2012, Anadolu Agency reports.

Faisal Al-Mujfel was appointed the kingdom’s ambassador in Damascus, the state news agency SPA reported.

The move came months after the two countries resumed their diplomatic relations after they severed their ties more than a decade ago.

28 May 2024; MEMO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned Israel’s actions in Rafah, calling them “a revelation of the ugly face of a terrorist state.” He asserted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his associates will not escape punishment and will meet the same fate as Adolf Hitler and other war criminals.

28 May 2024; MEMO: The Egyptian army announced yesterday that a soldier was killed in a shooting near the border with the Gaza Strip, saying it is investigating the incident, Anadolu reported.

“The Egyptian Armed Forces are conducting an investigation by the competent authorities regarding the shooting incident in the border area in Rafah, which led to the martyrdom of one of the personnel in charge of security,” a military spokesman said in a statement.

The spokesman did not point the finger at any party.

28 May 2024; MEMO: A Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier off the Yemeni coast took on water after being targeted with three missiles, maritime security and shipping sources said on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

The ship issued a distress call, saying it had sustained damage to the cargo hold and was taking on water about 54 nautical miles south-west of Yemen’s port city of Hudaydah, British security firm, Ambrey, said.

29 May 2024; MEMO: Irish Foreign Minister, Micheál Martin, announced yesterday that European Union foreign ministers have held a “significant” discussion for the first time on imposing sanctions on Israel if it fails to adhere to international humanitarian law.

“There was a very clear consensus about the need to uphold the international humanitarian legal institutions,” Martin told reporters following the Foreign Affairs Council.