Arabic press review: Hamas sizes up Algeria, SDF bigger than IS

Hamas to set up in Algeria

The Palestinian Hamas movement is to open an office in Algeria as a result of secret talks, according to Noon Post news website.

Talks began several months ago when Hamas decided to find an alternative to Qatar, where many leaders have lived in exile from Palestine, the website added.

The report says: "There is strong relationships between Hamas and Algeria, in the meantime there is growing pressure on Doha to expel Hamas' leaders."

Goodbye Amman

Benjamin Netanyahu has promised that the Israeli killer of two Jordanians near the Israeli embassy in Amman will return to Israel, according to the Jordanian newspaper, Assabeel.

Jordan says it wants to question the Israeli security guard, who shot dead a Jordanian who attacked him with a screwdriver, accidentally killing another man in the process.

Assabeel said the Israeli prime minister "made a phone call with the Israeli guard and promised him he would stay free".

At the same time a high-profile military official will arrive in Jordan to discuss the incident with the government on Monday, according to Assabeel's report.

Iranians head to Saudi Arabia

The head of the Iranian Hajj and pilgrimage committee has said that an Iranian diplomatic delegation will receive visas to enter Saudi Arabia from Dubai in the next few days.

The Tasnim Arabic-language news agency reported that Ahad Azadi Khawah had stated the diplomats would travel after talks with the Saudi Hajj minister.

SDF controls more Syrian territory than IS... just

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have gained control of more of Syria’s territory than Islamic State after progress on the battlefield, according to the London-based al-Hayat newspaper. 

The SDF now controls 22.5 percent of Syrian territory, the newspaper said. The IS group has seen its territory slump to 22.4 percent.

The SDF is now the second largest authority in Syria, behind the government of Bashar al-Assad, by land controlled. 

However, the SDF has found the battle for the IS capital of Raqqa hard-going, and last week admitted it was assessing its front lines after suffering heavy casualties.

The SDF denied it had been forced into a retreat.

* Arabic press review is a digest of reports that are not independently verified as accurate by Middle East Eye