Xinhua Middle East news summary at 2200 GMT, May 31

DOHA -- Qatar announced approval of a draft law on permanent residency card for non-Qataris, the Qatar News Agency (QNA) said.

The announcement came during a regular meeting of Qatari cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Thani. (Qatar-Permanent Residency-Draft Law)

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DAMASCUS -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said that his administration has nearly won the seven-year-long war in Syria as the army has made major progress in the fight against the rebels, noting that the West tries to prolong the crisis with every Syrian victory.

"With every move forward for the Syrian army, and for the political process ..., our enemies and our opponents, mainly the West led by the United States and their puppets in Europe and in our region, try to make it farther, either by supporting more terrorism, bringing more terrorists to Syria, or by hindering the political process," Assad told Russia Today in an interview released on Thursday. (Syria-Assad-Victory)

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BAGHDAD -- The Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) said on Thursday that the results of May 12 parliamentary election can only be cancelled through the country's federal court.

"Cancelling the results of the election, under any circumstances, is for the federal court exclusively and not for the Council of Representatives (parliament)," Riyadh al-Badran, head of the electoral commission, said at a press conference in Baghdad. (Iraq-Election-Results)

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ANKARA -- At least 36 suspects linked to the Islamic State(IS) were arrested in Turkey on Thursday, Anadolu Agency reported.

A total of 20 suspects, including Turkish, Iraqi and Syrian nationals, were arrested during an operation launched by northwestern Sakarya prosecutors. (Turkey-IS-Arrest) Enditem