BEIRUT: The US mediator handling negotiations over the maritime border between Lebanon and Israel expressed optimism on Friday that the talks, which stopped in April, will resume shortly and said that he was hopeful of reaching an agreement.

Amos Hochstein met with Lebanese President Michel Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati during a three-hour stay in the country.

Earlier the US mediator crossed the Israeli-Lebanese border by land, entering Lebanon from Naqoura.

WASHINGTON: The US on Friday imposed sanctions on Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security and its minister, accusing them of being tied to a disruptive July cyberattack on Albania and engaging in other cyber activities against the United States and its allies.
The move comes after Albania severed diplomatic relations with Iran on Wednesday for the same incident, ordering Iranian diplomats and embassy staff to leave within 24 hours.

DAMSCUS: Syria’s Aleppo airport reopened on Friday, with the first civilian flight landing in more than 72 hours, after repairs following an Israeli air strike earlier this week.

Damage to the main runway in Tuesday’s raid had put the airport — the country’s second-largest — out of service, but the transport ministry said Friday repairs had been completed.

The first incoming flight, from Kuwait, landed at 8:30 pm local time (1730 GMT), according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

ANKARA: As part of a joint operation, Turkey’s police and intelligence agency apprehended Bashar Hattab Ghazal Al-Sumaidai, a senior Daesh member codenamed Abu Zeyd, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced late on Thursday.
Al-Sumaidai, long associated with Daesh, confessed that he was a qaadi, or judge, in a Shariah court in the terror group’s ministries of education and justice. He had entered Turkey months ago using a fake ID.

RIYADH: The impact of digital technology on family cohesion in the Middle East, and the family’s role in confronting children’s addiction to electronic devices, will be among subjects tackled at a Gulf Family Forum to be held in Riyadh.

Specialists, researchers and prominent personalities from the region and worldwide will take part in the two-day forum, which has been organized by Saudi Arabia’s Family Affairs Council in cooperation with the Secretariat General of the Gulf Cooperation Council.