AMMAN: The Jordanian army has announced that its troops on the northeastern border with Syria foiled an attempt on Sunday at dawn to smuggle “large amounts” of drugs from the war-torn country into the kingdom.

The operation was the latest since the Jordanian army earlier this year announced an intensified campaign against drug smuggling from Syria which, it said, has been increasing dramatically.

ANKARA: As signs of social discontent rise, Ankara has taken new measures to restrict the movement of Syrians within the country’s territories, banning them from visiting their homeland during the approaching Eid Al-Adha holiday.

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu announced the new precautions on migration control during a press conference in the capital Ankara on Saturday.

The percentage of foreigners who are allowed to live in each neighborhood will be reduced from 25 percent to 20 percent, starting from July 1, closing 1,200 districts to settlement.

LONDON: The Arab League on Saturday welcomed Norway’s decision to label products from Israeli settlements with their place of origin.
Saeed Abu Ali, the Arab League’s assistant secretary-general for Palestine and the Occupied Arab Territories, said the decision was an important legal and moral step in the right direction to boycott Israeli settlement products and prevent their entry to European countries and the world.

AL-MUKALLA: The UN thanked Saudi Arabia on Sunday for donating $10 million to efforts to maintain the decaying Safer oil tanker in Yemen, as the country’s officials and analysts called for more aggressive pressure on the Iran-backed Houthis to facilitate the arrival of UN teams to the vessel.

KHARTOUM: A second round of UN-facilitated talks aiming to resolve Sudan’s political crisis following a military coup have been postponed, a spokesman said Saturday, with a key civilian bloc still refusing to join.
The United Nations, the African Union and regional bloc IGAD launched “direct talks” on Wednesday in an effort to break the political stalemate since last October’s military takeover, led by army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.
Military officials, representatives of several political parties and senior members of ex-rebel groups attended.