Eighteen Iraqis, the majority military personnel, were killed overnight Friday to Saturday in separate jihadist attacks mainly in the greater Baghdad area, security sources told AFP.

Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria on Friday handed over 92 Uzbek women and children suspected of family ties to the Islamic State group to an Uzbekistan delegation for repatriation.

Iran has welcomed a "change of tone" from Saudi Arabia that could clear the way to a new era of cooperation between the rival regional powers.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced Friday that elections are being postponed until Israel guarantees voting can take place in annexed east Jerusalem, further delaying polls in a society which last voted in 2006.

A massive stampede at a densely packed Jewish pilgrimage site killed at least 44 people in Israel on Friday, blackening Israel's largest Covid-era gathering.

The Kurdish-ruled region of northeastern Syria will run out of Covid-19 testing equipment in a week, the International Rescue Committee warned Thursday.

Palestinian leaders were set to decide Thursday whether to hold elections next month as scheduled or call a delay that could trigger further frustration in a divided society which last voted in 2006.

Israel said Thursday that it had re-opened the fishing zone off the blockaded Gaza Strip, after closing it earlier this week in response to rocket fire towards Israeli territory. 

Saudi Arabia is set to close eight Turkish schools at the end of the current academic year, Turkey's Anadolu state news agency reported Wednesday, a decision that could anger Ankara as it tries to improve ties with Riyadh

Worn-out fuses, tangled wiring criss-crossing illegal buildings, poor construction and generators exposed to extreme heat have become a potent recipe in Iraq for frequent deadly and destructive blazes.