A powerful explosion has taken place at a sensitive defense factory during a test in central Israel, causing no casualties, Israeli media reports said.

The explosion occurred during a “routine test” by the Tomer factory for advanced weapons, which develops rocket engines, the Ofek satellite launchers and houses various types of missiles, the website of Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

Member states of the global chemical weapons watchdog voted Wednesday to strip Syria of its rights at the organisation in an unprecedented step after a probe blamed Damascus for poison gas attacks.

A first batch of Covid-19 vaccine doses was expected to arrive Wednesday in war-torn northwestern Syria, where millions of people live in dire humanitarian conditions, a UN official said.

A first round of direct talks between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran signaled a possible de-escalation following years of animosity that often spilled into neighboring countries and at least one still-raging war. But few expect quick results.

The talks, hosted by Iraq earlier this month, were confirmed Tuesday to The Associated Press by an Iraqi and a Western official in Baghdad.

Greece will lend a Patriot missile battery to Saudi Arabia to protect its critical energy infrastructure, Greek officials said Tuesday, as the Gulf kingdom grapples with growing attacks by Yemen's Huthi rebels.

President Bashar al-Assad appointed a new central bank chief on Tuesday, a week after the former governor was sacked amid Syria's spiraling economic crisis.

World powers urged the global chemical weapons watchdog on Tuesday to hit Syria with unprecedented sanctions for alleged toxic gas attacks and for failing to declare its arsenal.

Russia's defense ministry said overnight it had killed "up to 200 fighters" in Syria during air strikes on a "terrorist" base northeast of Palmyra, where fighters were planning attacks ahead of presidential polls next month.

"After confirming data through multiple channels on the location of terrorist facilities, Russian Aerospace Forces aircraft carried out air strikes," the ministry said in a statement. 

A Syrian court Monday started receiving applications from presidential hopefuls, the state news agency said, for polls next month expected to keep Bashar al-Assad in power in the war-torn country.

The majority of Palestinian residents of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem can vote in landmark Palestinian legislative elections set for next month, the electoral commission said Monday.