President Joseph Aoun has met visiting French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in Baabda, saying he would welcome any effort to prevent a security vacuum in the south if U.N. peacekeepers withdraw as planned at the end of the year.

Barrot is in Beirut for a two-day visit to discuss "mechanisms for an international presence" in the south -- the scene of repeated conflicts between Israel and Hezbollah -- after the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) expires.

Saudi Arabia said that it had intercepted a fresh wave of incoming drones, as its ally Egypt weighed sending the kingdom help in defending against repeated attacks from Yemen's Houthis.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards on Saturday said an oil tanker was on fire in the Strait of Hormuz after hitting a mine in the waterway at the heart of the Middle East war.

A tanker was struck by an "unknown projectile" off Saudi Arabia's Gulf coast, forcing the evacuation of its crew, a maritime monitoring agency said on Saturday.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian denied that Tehran sought nuclear weapons, expressed readiness for dialogue and condemned U.S. sanctions during talks with Georgia's prime minister.

Qatar will help revive Lebanon's ailing energy sector and solve its chronic problems in providing reliable electricity, the Lebanese and Qatari prime ministers said Friday.

Mainland Spain sizzled in its warmest September since records began in 1961, with exceptional heat effectively making it another summer month, national weather agency AEMET said on Friday.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino gave "no satisfactory answers" when grilled Thursday during a meeting to discuss his attempts to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors, senior members of football's global governing body said, but he did offer an apology for the failed project.

Israel said commercial goods usually delivered into Gaza by private merchants have not entered the beleaguered territory for days because of Hamas threats and a taxation scheme, an accusation the group rejected.

Kyiv has begun installing mobile concrete shelters at public transport stops, an AFP reporter saw Friday, as it grapples with air attacks and concern about the city's preparedness for the looming winter.