On the walls of the palatial mausoleum built to house the remains of former Syrian President Hafez Assad, vandals have sprayed variations of the phrase, "Damn your soul, Hafez."

Nearly two weeks after the ouster of his son, Bashar Assad, people streamed in to take photos next to the burned-out hollow where the elder Assad's grave used to be. It was torched by rebel fighters after a lightning offensive overthrew Assad's government, bringing more than a half-century rule by the Assad dynasty to an end.

The Nativity Store in Manger Square has sold handmade olive wood carvings and religious items to people visiting the traditional birthplace of Jesus since 1927. But as Bethlehem prepares to mark its second Christmas under the shadow of the war in Gaza, there are almost no tourists, leaving the Nativity Store and other businesses unsure of how much longer they can hold on.

For the second straight year, Bethlehem's Christmas celebrations will be somber and muted, in deference to ongoing war in Gaza. There will be no giant Christmas tree in Manger Square, no raucous scout marching bands, no public lights twinkling and very few public decorations or displays.

In the towns and villages of southern Syria that Israel has occupied since the overthrow of longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad, soldiers and residents size each other up from a distance.

The main street of the village of Jabata al-Khashab is largely deserted as a foot patrol of Israeli troops passes through it.

Iran's supreme leader denied Sunday that militant groups around the region functioned as Tehran's proxies, warning that if his country chose to "take action", it would not need them anyway.

The remarks came after a year in which Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza suffered heavy losses in wars with Israel, and two weeks after the fall of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, who had been a key link in Tehran's so-called axis of resistance.

Iran's supreme leader asserted that young Syrians will resist the new government emerging after Assad's ouster, as he again accused the United States and Israel of sowing chaos in the country.

Iran provided crucial support to Assad throughout Syria's civil war, which erupted after he launched a violent crackdown on a popular uprising. Syria had long served as a key conduit for Iranian aid to Hezbollah.

The United States said it struck targets in Yemen's rebel-held capital, hours after a Houthi rebel missile wounded people in Israel's commercial hub Tel Aviv.

Two U.S. Navy pilots were shot down Sunday over the Red Sea in an apparent "friendly fire" incident, the U.S military said, marking the most serious incident to threaten troops in over a year of America targeting Yemen's Houthi rebels.

Both pilots were recovered alive after ejecting from their stricken aircraft, with one suffering minor injuries. But the shootdown underlines just how dangerous the Red Sea corridor has become over the ongoing attacks on shipping by the Iranian-backed Houthis despite U.S. and European military coalitions patrolling the area.

The Israeli military said its soldiers shot and wounded a protester in the Syrian village of Maariyah.

Since the fall of Bashar Assad’s government in Syria, Israel’s military has occupied several locations in the country along the border with Israel.

The Israeli military says a rocket fired from Yemen hit an area of Tel Aviv overnight, leaving 16 people slightly injured by shattered glass from nearby windows.

A further 14 people sustained minor injuries as they rushed to shelters when air raid sirens sounded before the projectile hit just before 4 a.m. Saturday, the military said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday it was time to destroy "terrorist" groups that posed a threat to Syria's survival, namely the Islamic State group jihadists and Kurdish fighters.

"Daesh, the PKK and their affiliates -- which threaten the survival of Syria -- must be eradicated," he told journalists while returning from a Cairo summit, using an Arabic acronym for IS.