The U.S. ambassador to Israel, a staunch supporter of West Bank settlements, on Thursday denounced as "terror" a siege by settlers against Palestinians that drew an unsuccessful intervention by the army.

Settlers near Nablus since Sunday have blockaded Palestinian homes, including one owned by a U.S. citizen, with residents saying they have been cut off from food and other supplies.

Relatives of Lebanese seized by Israel during its last two wars with Hezbollah held a rally in front of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Beirut on Wednesday to demand information.

Israel is estimated to have seized dozens of people in Lebanon since 2024, including Hezbollah fighters but also numerous civilians. Its military occasionally reports capturing Hezbollah fighters.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Wednesday condemned Israel's "systematic destruction" in the country's south as a violation of international law, as Israel's defense minister said its military was "destroying all the houses" there.

Salam said Israeli "attacks, incursions, demolitions and the systematic destruction of homes", infrastructure, government buildings and places of worship "represent a serious violation of the principles and rules of international law and international humanitarian law".

Lebanon's parliament on Wednesday passed an amnesty law, the first of its kind since 1991, that is expected to benefit thousands of prisoners and wanted people.

The head of military intelligence for the Libyan National Army (LNA), which controls the east and parts of southern Libya, has been killed in a car bombing, the army said in a statement Tuesday.

Fawzi al-Mansouri was assassinated on Monday when an explosive stuck to his car detonated as he was leaving a local mosque at night, the statement said.

U.S. consumer inflation slowed slightly to 3.4 percent in July despite turbulent oil prices due to the Iran war, government data showed, with the data likely giving the Federal Reserve room to breathe on interest rates.

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.1 percent from a month earlier, but fell on a year-on-year basis, according to data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The data was in line with analyst expectations.

Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia's south killed two people, including an eight-year-old child, the regional governor said on Wednesday after the latest exchange of air attacks between the warring countries.

Russian overnight strikes on a frontline city in southern Ukraine also killed two.

Pakistan's interior minister is visiting Iran to discuss regional security, stability and other developments, the Pakistani foreign office said Wednesday, as Islamabad tries to mediate a resolution to the Middle East war.

Mohsin Naqvi, previously involved in mediation efforts between Iran and the US, is known to be close to the powerful head of the Pakistani army, Asim Munir.

Lebanon's military has seized 1.2 million captagon pills that were about to be sent abroad.

Lebanon has faced pressure from Gulf states to counter the production and trafficking of drugs, particularly the amphetamine-like narcotic captagon, for which the conservative monarchies are a major market.

The United Nations hailed Lebanon’s decision to scrap the death penalty, and urged other countries in the Middle East and North Africa to do likewise.

"I commend the decision by the Lebanese parliament to formally abolish the death penalty in the country. Lebanon is now the first country in the region to do so, and I call on the other countries that still maintain the death penalty to follow its lead in ending this inhumane practice," U.N. rights chief Volker Turk said Tuesday.