Turkish potentate Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly said that the US operationagainst Daesh in Syria has caused terrorists to flee Raqqa for the Sinai, Asharq Al Awsat reports. Erdogan’s self-serving statement, which came up during a meeting of the AKP parliamentary bloc in Ankara, appears to imply that the US strategy of support for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) — considered by Ankara to be a terrorist group — has caused more harm than good. Since exiling or arresting anyone with common sense and the daring to oppose him, we’ll let him ponder the alternative of allowing Daesh to continue having a capital city in Syria.

Other international highlights worth noting in brief:

• We’re getting a sound thrashing for state’s crackdown on LGBTQ folks in media outlets including The Intercept and Vice (warning that the latter includes, sadly, another [redacted] autoplay video].
• Cambridge professor Maha Abdel Rahman will be questioned as part of the investigation into Italian student Giulio Regeni’s murder in Egypt last year, ANSAMed reports.
• The battle against a decision banning the appointment of female judges to the Council of State is not over yet, notes Al Monitor, with a hearing set before the Administrative Court on 24 February.
• Egyptians have made FIFA’s list of the top 10 countries seeking World Cup tickets, The Sundiata Post reports.
• Egyptian state universities ban a number of unusual everyday items from their campuses, including water bottles, slippers and ripped jeans, Al Bawaba reports.