Daily News Brief - 06/10/2022
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Please find below today’s daily news brief.
Iran: Iranian state television broadcasts “confessions” of French nationals
Iran’s state-owned IRNA channel broadcasted on Thursday what it said were “confessions” by two French nationals, five months after the Iranian authorities arrested them. In the video, the French teachers’ union official Cecile Kohler says she is an “agent of the DGSE,” referring to France’s foreign intelligence agency. Iran has offered no evidence to support the espionage accusations.
Iran: University students call for a “referendum” as protests continue across the country
Protests inside universities spread beyond Tehran despite the authorities’ crackdown on students and reached Urima, Mashhad, and Ardabil. At the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, demonstrators chanted several slogans condemning the regime and the police raid at the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran. Their main slogan was “Referendum…Referendum…This is the people’s motto!” The Education Ministry failed so far to quell the student masses protesting against the regime on university campuses.
Iraq: Dozens of Muqtada al-Sadr’s supporters break into Baghdad TV headquarters
Dozens of Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s supporters broke into the building of the Baghdad-based al-Rabiaa TV channel on Tuesday night after allegations that the channel broadcasted a program insulting the Mahdi Army militia, founded by al-Sadr after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. The individuals destroyed equipment and furniture before the security forces removed them from the location.
Iraq | Saudi Arabia: Iraq and Saudi Arabia are negotiating to establish a new free zone
According to the governor of Najaf, Majid al-Waeli, Iraq and Saudi Arabia are currently negotiating the establishment of a new free zone in the Najaf province, located on a 1,000-acre land, ten kilometers from the border between the two countries. Al-Waeli stated that “the free zone project is a commercial city for free exchange between Iraq and Saudi Arabia,” adding that it will “provide thousands of job opportunities for the people of the province and the neighboring ones.”
Israel: One person was killed and two others were injured in a shooting incident
An 18-year-old man was killed in a shooting incident on Wednesday night in the Israeli coastal city of Nahariya. Clashes erupted between family members and friends of the deceased and hospital staff after finding out about his passing. Security guards and police officers were called to the scene to calm the situation. Initial information shows that the shooting is related to a conflict between two Arab families in Nahariya.
Israel | Lebanon: Israel rejects Lebanon’s revision of draft maritime border agreement
Israel rejected on Thursday the revisions requested by Lebanon to a US-mediated border demarcation proposal, according to a senior official. The official added that “Prime Minister Yair Lapid was briefed on the substantive changes Lebanon was seeking to make to the agreement and instructed his negotiating team to reject them.” Mirroring earlier statements by the Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, the official further stated that "Israel will begin production of natural gas from its Karish field as soon as that is possible. If Hezbollah or anyone else attempts to cause harm to the rig or threaten Israel, the negotiations on an agreed maritime border will immediately stop and Hassan Nasrallah will have to explain to the citizens of Lebanon why they will not have a natural gas rig in production or an economic future."
Palestine | US: Top PLO official meets with the US national security advisor in Washington
The Secretary-General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Hussein al-Sheikh met on Tuesday with the US National Security Advisor Jack Sullivan at the White House. The two officials discussed preserving a path towards a two-state solution and the current escalation in violence in the occupied West Bank. Al-Sheikh also met with the US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.
Saudi Arabia: OPEC+ decides to cut oil production by two million barrels per day, sparking Western criticism
The Saudi-led OPEC+ announced on Wednesday its decision to cut oil production by two million barrels a day after a face-to-face meeting between energy ministers in Vienna, Austria. Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman stressed the importance of “pre-action” to confront the situation of unprecedented uncertainty in the oil market. However, the impact of the cut will be limited because OPEC+ members are already unable to meet the quotas set by the group. The United States and the European Union criticized the move by saying that it will bolster Kremlin finances and help Vladimir Putin weather a looming European ban on oil imports, driving up fuel prices worldwide.
Syria | US: Syrian state TV claims that the US conducted a rare raid in the country’s northeast
Syrian state television claimed on Thursday that the US special forces conducted an operation in a village near the northeastern town of Qamishli, killing one person and capturing several others.
Turkey | Iraq: Turkey bombs several villages in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region
According to local sources, Turkish warplanes heavily bombed territories in Iraq’s Kurdistan governorate of al-Sulaymaniyah on Thursday, targeting several villages in the Penjwen district. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Moreover, a Turkish drone attack targeted on Thursday the Qasri sub-district of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region.
Turkey | Israel: Ankara appoints new Turkish ambassador to Israel
Turkey appointed on Thursday Sakir Ozkan Torunlar as its new ambassador to Israel as the two countries put efforts to normalize ties. It comes after last month, Israel named Irit Lillian as its envoy to Ankara. Turkey and Israel agreed to restore full diplomatic relations and reappoint ambassadors and consuls in August, after a four-year hiatus.
Turkey | Sweden: Ankara summons the Swedish ambassador over “insulting” TV program
The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned on Wednesday the Swedish ambassador to Ankara Staffan Herrstrom after Sweden’s national television aired a program that contained “insulting” statements and images against Turkey and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The incident comes as Turkey continues to threaten Sweden and Finland to veto their NATO membership bid if the two countries do not satisfy Ankara’s desires with regard to individuals affiliated with groups considered “terrorists” by Turkey.
Yemen | US: US envoy calls on the Houthi rebels to show more flexibility in negotiations on truce extension
US Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking on Wednesday called on the Houthi rebels to show more flexibility in the “maximalist and impossible” demands they have made in an UN-proposed expanded truce deal. According to Lenderking, the demands created “a threshold that was simply too hard for the other side to contemplate and was entirely unreasonable.” Earlier, the UN Envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg stated that the two sides had failed to renew the truce because they were still arguing over proposals to pay civil service wages, increase fuel shipments, add flights, and open roads.