Qatar and Bahrain announced late Wednesday that they had agreed to end a long-running diplomatic feud and re-establish relations.

Bahrain in 2017 joined Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt in imposing a diplomatic blockade on Qatar. The countries' rivalry goes back even further, however, and Bahrain is the last to renew ties.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has welcomed his Emirati counterpart Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan in Cairo, his latest meeting with a leader from the oil-rich Gulf amid his country's economic crisis.

Sisi has been courting Gulf leaders as Egypt grapples with economic turmoil that has seen official inflation shoot up to nearly 34 percent and the local currency halve in value over the past year.

Syria and Saudi Arabia are moving toward reopening embassies and resuming flights between the two countries for the first time in more than a decade, the countries said Thursday in a joint statement.

The announcement followed a visit by Syria's top diplomat to the kingdom, the first since Saudi Arabia cut off diplomatic relations with Syria in 2012.

The Greek Orthodox Church on Wednesday accused Israeli police of infringing on the freedom of worshippers with "heavy-handed" restrictions on how many pilgrims can attend the "Holy Fire" ceremony amid soaring tensions.

Israeli police said the limits are needed for safety during Saturday's celebration at the ancient Church of the Holy Sepulcher, a holy site where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected.

Syria will reopen its embassy in Tunisia after the North African country announced the appointment of a new ambassador to Damascus, Syrian state media reported Wednesday.

Tunisia has become the latest Arab state to reestablish diplomatic ties with Syria, after cutting off relations a decade ago.

The Israeli military has shot and killed two Palestinians who allegedly opened fire at troops from their car in the northern West Bank on Tuesday, authorities said, the latest incident in a wave of deadly violence gripping the occupied territory.

The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the two men killed in the West Bank village of Deir al Hatab as Saud Abdullah Saud and Mohammed Abu Dira, without saying their ages.

Iran delegation arrives in Saudi amid thaw between regional powers

An Iranian delegation arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, Tehran said, to pave the way for reopening diplomatic missions as the Gulf rivals prepare to normalize relations, seven years after an acrimonious split.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan has spoken by phone with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman amid signs that the Saudis and Iran-allied Houthis in Yemen are making "remarkable progress" toward finding a permanent end to their nine-year conflict, according to the Biden administration.

The crown prince, often referred to by his initials MBS, has had a strained relationship with President Joe Biden over human rights and oil production concerns. But the de facto Saudi leader and the president's top national security adviser decided to talk amid encouraging signs on winding down the long and bloody war, a top priority for Biden.

A prisoner exchange involving hundreds of detainees from Yemen's brutal civil war will start on Thursday, a Yemeni government official said, against a backdrop of rising hopes for peace.

Nearly 900 prisoners, most of whom were fighting with Huthi rebels, will be flown between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, which leads the military coalition fighting on behalf of the ousted government, the official said on Tuesday.

U.S. spies caught Russian intelligence officers boasting that they had convinced the oil-rich United Arab Emirates "to work together against US and UK intelligence agencies," according to a purported American document posted online as part of a major U.S. intelligence breach.

U.S. officials declined to comment on the document, which bore known top-secret markings and was viewed by The Associated Press. The Emirati government on Monday dismissed any accusation that the UAE had deepened ties with Russian intelligence as "categorically false."