World News in Brief: January 13

The Philippines will send two military ships with "a small contingent of unarmed servicemen" to help repatriate Filipino workers in the Middle East, Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said on Sunday (January 12) night.

* Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron held a phone conversation on Sunday, discussing the situation in Libya and the importance of a ceasefire, the Kremlin said in a statement.

* Iran and Qatar on Sunday agreed to boost bilateral ties and help resolve the regional issues through dialogue, official IRNA news agency reported.

* Israel's left-wing parties said on Monday they would join forces ahead of a March 2 national election to regain dwindling influence in parliament and pose a fresh challenge to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

* Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Sunday welcomed visiting Indonesian President Joko Widodo in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with an official reception. The two sides discussed bilateral ties as well as regional and international issues.

* Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan received a phone call from French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday. The two sides discussed enhancing cooperation as well as important regional and international developments.

* Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and German Chancellor Angela Merkel held phone conversation Sunday over recent developments in Libya, Turkey's Directorate of Communications said in a written statement. The conversation of the two leaders also addressed regional developments, the statement added.

* Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Sunday that there will be a series of operations against the US forces in the region in retaliation to US assassination of Iranian and Iraqi commanders earlier this month, local TV channel Al Manar reported.

* King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia on Sunday held talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The talks fell within Abe's official visit to Saudi Arabia as part of his regional tour that started with the kingdom.

* Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday met with the head of the UN-recognized government in Libya after a truce took effect in the war-torn Libya.

* Seven Katyusha rockets on Sunday hit Balad airbase, which previously housed US troops, in Iraq's central province of Salahudin, wounding two Iraqi soldiers, a provincial security source said.

* The ceasefires reached in Libya and Syria's Idlib have been in effect despite one or two individual cases of violation, the Turkish Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

Xinhua,Reuters