LONDON: Britain said on Friday it condemned a launch of ballistic missiles by Iran in war games conducted this week.
“These actions are a threat to regional and international security and we call on Iran to immediately cease its activities,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard fired more than a dozen surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, the official IRNA news agency reported on Friday.
The report said the Guard fired 16 missiles during an ongoing major military exercise across the country’s south. It said the name of missiles were Emad, Ghadr, Sejjil, Zalzal, Dezful and Zolfaghar and that their range is from 350 to 2,000 kilometers (220 to 1250 miles). The short-range and medium-range missiles, Iran has said, can reach US bases in the region as well as Israel.
It said the missiles successfully hit one target at the same time as 10 drones simultaneously hit their targets. State TV showed missiles launching in the desert.
Iran had displayed and test fired the missiles in the past.
Major General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, the chief of staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, said the planned drill was an answer to Israel’s recent “massive but pointless threats” to Iran.
Bagheri said, “This was a tiny part of hundreds of missiles that can hit any hostile target simultaneously.”
Israel has long seen Iran’s nuclear program as a threat and seeks a harder line by the US and international community. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful.
During the second day of the drill on Tuesday, Iran launched cruise missiles, too.
The Guard in the past has said it has cruise missiles with ranges of 1,000 kilometers (620 miles). It also has missiles that range up to 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles).
From time to time, Iran holds military exercises, saying they are aimed at improving the readiness of its forces and testing new weapons.
The five-day annual exercise that began on Monday came days after the breakup of talks to revive Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers. Iran has accelerated its nuclear advances as negotiations to return to the accord struggle to make headway. The talks will resume on Monday.
Former President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the nuclear deal and re-imposed crushing sanctions on Iran in 2018 . Tehran has since started enriching uranium up to 60 percent purity — a short technical step from the 90 percent needed to make an atomic bomb.

ROME: The Italian government has pledged its support to Iraq to further its goals for stabilization and to continue the fight against terrorism.

Iraq’s president and prime minister held talks on Thursday in Baghdad with Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio.

President Barham Saleh stressed the need to defuse the region’s crises and prevent escalation through dialogue.

“Iraq is an indispensable element for regional stability,” he said in a statement.

Saleh and the chief of Italian diplomacy discussed bilateral ties and efforts to “strengthen them in various fields, and joint bilateral cooperation in the face of various challenges, especially those related to combating terrorism and extremism, strengthening economic and cultural relations, confronting the dangerous repercussions of climate change and protecting the environment,” a spokesman for the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Arab News.

Saleh praised “Italy’s supportive role for the Iraqi security forces in combating terrorism within the international coalition and Nato, in addition to contributions in the humanitarian and social aspects.”

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi stressed the importance of benefiting from Italy’s experience in fighting corruption and organised crime networks.

“Di Maio and Al-Kadhimi discussed ways to develop Iraqi-Italian relations in various political and economic areas and in the war on terrorism,” the same source told Arab News.

The two parties also discussed improving security relations, especially with regards to the training of Iraqi forces under the NATO framework, with the defense pact moving to a non-combat role in the country.

Di Maio reaffirmed Rome’s support for Iraq and its government.

“Italy is committed to stabilization and development of this country, and to continue help the government in a concrete way to fight against terrorism,” he said.

He also praised the Iraqi government’s efforts to “bring views closer and enhance local and regional stability,” and wished for a boost of bilateral commercial relations.

Italy is part of the international coalition of troops in Iraq, with some 1,000 Italian soldiers currently deployed. The country will head the NATO mission in Iraq from May 2022.

RIYADH: Arab coalition forces have started carrying out air strikes to destroy Houthi weapons at a stadium in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, after a deadline given to remove them had expired, the alliance said early Friday.

(Developing story)

NEW YORK: The UN on Thursday reminded the Libyan authorities that presidential and parliamentary elections, conducted “in the appropriate conditions, on a level playing field among all candidates” are indispensable for a peaceful solution to Libya’s political crises.

“The current challenges in the electoral process should in no way be instrumentalized to undermine the stability and progress which has been achieved in Libya over the past 15 months,” said Stephanie Williams, the UN’s special adviser for Libya.

Calling on leaders to honor the will of millions of Libyans who had registered to vote, Williams also urged politicians to remain focused on the electoral process and strive to create the necessary conditions for the elections to be secure, fair and free.

The long-awaited Libyan presidential election, initially slated for Dec. 24, was pushed back by a month on Wednesday, following the recommendation of the High National Election Commission amid disputes over the laws governing elections, the eligibility of several divisive candidates, and occasional infighting among various armed groups.

The electoral process had also been dogged by east-west rivalry, and the presence of thousands of foreign fighters and mercenaries, with several reports of harassment by militias of electoral workers, judges and security staff.

A Libyan parliamentary committee said that it has become “impossible” to hold the elections on Friday.

Amnesty International’s Diana Eltahawy cited intimidation by armed groups and militias which “not only enjoy rampant impunity but are integrated into state institutions without any vetting to remove those responsible for crimes under international law.”

Williams said the UN “welcomes (the HNEC’s) commitment to the ongoing electoral process and to continuing the review of the applications of the candidates for parliamentary elections.”

The special adviser, who arrived in Tripoli earlier this month and met with “hundreds of people from all of Libya’s regions,” said she was pleased to witness “a shift from a discourse of conflict to one of peaceful dialogue.

“Even those who only last year bore arms against each other have continued to come together,” she said. “Despite the many hardships endured by many Libyans, including in southern Libya, and the pleas of those still displaced by the conflict that has torn the country apart during the past 10 years, I have met many Libyans who have recovered a sense of normalcy.

“I have heard stories of separated families that could finally travel to visit relatives, a development made possible by the ceasefire and resumption of flights and the reopening of roads.”

Williams had overseen UN mediation efforts which led to an October 2020 ceasefire and the formation of a transitional government, as well as the elections scheduled for Dec. 24.

“I have also heard time and again the overwhelming desire of Libyans to go to the ballot box to determine their future and to end the long transitional period through the holding of inclusive, free, fair, and credible elections,” she said, adding: “I have also heard their genuine hopes that elections must be part of the solution, and not part of the problem, in Libya.”

RAMALLAH: Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian in a car they were pursuing in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, Palestinian paramedics said. The Israeli military said troops shot a Palestinian who had fired at them from a vehicle.

The incident followed several Palestinian attacks on Israelis in recent weeks. Palestinians also complain of attacks by Israeli settlers, whose residence in the West Bank the international community considers illegal.

In a statement, the military said the soldiers had come under fire from a passing vehicle while searching for Palestinians spotted approaching the Jewish settlement of Psagot.

“The troops responded with fire and hit the assailant,” the military said, adding that none of the soldiers was hurt in the incident.

Palestinian medics said the troops had chased a car up to the entrance of a refugee camp and then opened fire, wounding the Palestinian man in the back. They said he was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The medics said they did not know whether he had taken part in the alleged attack on the Israeli troops.

The violence came a day after Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian motorist they suspected of attempting to drive his vehicle into a military checkpoint near the settlement of Mevo Dotan in the West Bank.

Tor Wennesland, the United Nations Mideast peace envoy, last week said he was “alarmed” by the recent escalation of violence on both sides, saying the situation had become “volatile.”