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Biden warns Israel against Iran oil strikes as war fears mount

U.S. President Joe Biden has advised Israel against striking Iran's oil facilities, saying he was trying to rally the world to avoid the escalating prospect of all-out war in the Middle East.

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Israel army says drone strike launched 'from east' kills 2 soldiers

The Israeli army on Friday said a drone launched "from the east" killed two soldiers, with a public broadcaster reporting the strike originated from Iraq and hit a base in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

The military said the two soldiers died in northern Israel. When asked by AFP for details it said the soldiers were killed in a drone strike launched from the east, without specifying from where.

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US strikes hit 3 Yemen cities, including Sanaa

Strikes by the United States targeted three rebel-run cities in Yemen, including the capital Sanaa and the port city of Hodeida, according to the Houthi-run Al Masirah television network.

Al Masirah reported several U.S. strikes on Sanaa and Hodeida, where AFP correspondents heard loud explosions, as well as additional strikes on Dhamar, south of the capital, but did not specify if the attacks caused any damage or casualties.

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Relatives say whole family killed in Israel's deadliest West Bank strike since Oct. 7

An Israeli airstrike on a West Bank cafe that the military said targeted Palestinian militants also killed a family of four, including two young children, relatives told The Associated Press on Friday.

The strike slammed into a three-story building in the Tulkarem refugee camp late Thursday, setting it on fire, destroying a popular cafe and killing at least 18 Palestinians, according to the territory's Health Ministry. It was the deadliest strike in the West Bank since the start of the Israel-Hamas war nearly a year ago.

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Tunisia votes Sunday in third presidential election since Arab Spring

With his major opponents imprisoned or left off the ballot, Tunisian President Kais Saied faces few obstacles to winning reelection on Sunday, five years after riding anti-establishment backlash to a first term.

The North African country's Oct. 6 presidential election is its third since protests led to the 2011 ouster of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali — the first autocrat toppled in the Arab Spring uprisings that also overthrew leaders in Egypt, Libya and Yemen.

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Khamenei says Hezbollah's fight 'vital service to entire region'

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivered remarks in Arabic in a rare Friday sermon after the Farsi-speaking Islamic republic had launched a missile attack on foe Israel.

During the sermon at a mosque in Tehran, Khamenei hailed Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah and Hamas, which are both fighting Israel and operate in Arabic-speaking Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, respectively.

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Israel says killed 3 senior Hamas leaders three months ago

The Israeli military on Thursday said a strike three months ago killed three senior Hamas leaders in Gaza, where the army has been battling the Palestinian militants for nearly a year.

The military said the strike killed Rawhi Mushtaha, the head of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, and Sameh al-Siraj, who held the security portfolio for Hamas's political bureau, and Sami Oudeh, a commander.

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Israel strike on Syria capital kills two

An Israeli air strike killed two people in Damascus Wednesday, a monitor said, in the second strike in two days on a neighborhood that is home to security headquarters and embassies.

"An Israeli air strike targeted a residential building in the Mazzeh neighborhood frequented by Hezbollah leaders and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards," killing at least two people whose identity was not immediately clear, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

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US sanctions Iranian man and Chinese firms accused of helping Houthis

The U.S. has imposed sanctions on an Iranian man and three Chinese firms that Washington believes helped the Houthi militant group acquire materials needed to manufacture and deploy advanced missiles and drones against the U.S. and its allies.

Iranian citizen Hasan Ahmad Hasan Muhammad al-Kuhlani is named in the sanctions announced Wednesday. He is accused of facilitating weapons smuggling for the Houthis.

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World urges restraint after Iran strikes Israel

World leaders called on Iran and Israel to step back from the brink after Tehran fired a barrage of rockets at its arch-rival.

Tehran said Tuesday's attack -- launched as Israel said it was mounting a ground offensive against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon -- was in response to the killings of Iran-backed militant leaders.

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