Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has decreed a 100-percent pay rise for civil servants and pensioners while fuel subsidies were lifted in a country ravaged by 12 years of war.

Israeli troops killed two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank yesterday, in the first deadly raid in the Jericho area for months.

Islamic State jihadists killed three fighters loyal to the Damascus government in an attack in the Syrian desert yesterday, a war monitor said, the latest such deadly assault.

Iranian authorities yesterday arrested nine followers of the Bahai faith over a host of corruption charges including money laundering and tax evasion, the intelligence ministry said.

An attack by Islamic State group jihadists on Syrian government forces in the war-torn country’s east has killed 33 soldiers, a monitor said yesterday, revising an earlier toll of 26 deaths.

Saudi Arabia yesterday named a non-resident ambassador for the Palestinian Territories who will also serve as consul general in Jerusalem, a new position announced amid speculation about possible future ties with Israel.

Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man and wounded at least eight others during an operation in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank yesterday, Palestinian officials said.

Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man in a clash in the occupied West Bank yesterday, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade armed group said.

A bombing in southern Yemen yesterday killed four fighters loyal to a secessionist force, including a prominent commander who previously survived assassination attempts by Al-Qaeda, a security official said.

Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Tehran has resumed operations, state media in Iran reported yesterday, following a thaw in ties seven years after the mission was closed.

The United Nations has said it reached agreement with the Syrian government on aid deliveries to rebel-held areas from Turkey, raising concern among relief groups who had wanted Damascus kept out.

Islamic State group militants killed 10 Syrian troops and pro-government fighters in the former jihadist stronghold of Raqa province, a war monitor said yesterday, displaying their ability to keep mounting deadly attacks.

War-torn Sudan is at risk of major disease outbreaks, with thousands of unburied corpses remaining out in the open and country’s health and sanitation infrastructure destroyed, Save the Children warned yesterday.

More than 3,000 United States military personnel have arrived in the Red Sea aboard two warships, part of a beefed up response from Washington after tanker seizures by Iran, the US Navy said yesterday.

Four Syrian soldiers were killed and four others wounded in Israeli air strikes near the capital Damascus early Monday, state media said, citing a military source

The Iraqi government yesterday said it was suspending the popular Telegram messaging application across the country on “national security” grounds, drawing criticism on channels close to pro-Iran factions.

Saudi Arabia called on its citizens to quickly leave Lebanese territory and to avoid approaching areas where there have been armed clashes, the Saudi embassy in Lebanon said in a statement posted late on Friday on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Saudi Arabia is hosting talks on the Ukraine war yesterday in the latest flexing of its diplomatic muscle, a session that Kyiv acknowledged would “not be easy” given the wide range of countries represented.

At least one man is in a serious condition after a shooting attack on a central street in Tel Aviv yesterday, Israeli police said.

Iran yesterday declared a two-day holiday for government workers and banks nationwide as searing temperatures sweep across the country, state media reported.