Israel's finance minister has backed plans to build 3,400 homes in a particularly contentious area of the occupied West Bank, calling for the territory's annexation in response to several countries' plans to recognize a Palestinian state.

Iran said Thursday it was working with China and Russia to prevent the snapback of European sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program after Britain, France and Germany threatened to reimpose them.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin meet Friday in Alaska in a high-stakes, high-risk summit that could prove decisive for the future of Ukraine.

Arab nations have slammed comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apparently expressing support for the idea of an expanded "Greater Israel", calling the remarks a threat to their sovereignty at an especially tense time for the region.

The term Greater Israel refers to a biblical interpretation of the nation's territory during the time of King Solomon, encompassing not only the present-day Palestinian territories of Gaza and the occupied West Bank, but also parts of modern Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

A blast that rocked Syria's northwestern Idlib province on Thursday killed four people, state media said, though the cause had yet to be officially determined.

Residents told AFP they heard the sound of explosions on the western outskirts of the provincial capital, with a war monitor saying they came from a nearby base for foreign fighters.

Russia and Ukraine exchanged 84 prisoners of war from each side on Thursday, the Russian defense ministry said, in the latest swap which has seen hundreds of POWs released so far this year.

The ministry said on Telegram that the United Arab Emirates had mediated the exchange and that the released Russian service personnel were receiving "psychological and medical assistance".

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday welcomed U.S. efforts to end the Ukraine conflict, speaking a day ahead of his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.

"The U.S. administration... in my view is making quite energetic and sincere efforts to end the fighting," Putin told a meeting of top officials.

People are buying water by the truckload in Beirut as the state supply faces its worst shortages in years, with the leaky public sector struggling after record-low rainfall and local wells running dry.

A U.N. commission investigating sectarian bloodshed in Syria's Alawite heartland documented systematic violence at the hands of government forces and their allies, warning some of the acts could constitute war crimes, a report said Thursday.

The commission said it documented cases of "murder, torture and inhumane acts related to the treatment of the dead, widespread looting and burning of homes", leading to the mass displacement of civilians. "The violations included acts that likely amount to war crimes," it said.

Lebanese leaders firmly rejected any efforts at foreign interference during a visit by Iran's security chief Wednesday, with the prime minister saying Beirut would "tolerate neither tutelage nor diktat" after Tehran voiced opposition to plans to disarm Hezbollah.

The uncharacteristically blunt remarks hinted at a changed balance of power in a country where Iran has long wielded substantial influence by funding and arming Hezbollah.