The United States on Thursday urged Yemen's Houthi rebels to release all U.S. Embassy local staffers that they had detained, following the death of one of them after seven months in captivity.

The Iran-backed Houthis seized the headquarters of the U.S. Embassy in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa last October. They detained dozens of former staffers, many of whom were later released but at least 11 remained in the rebels' custody.

One of Libya's rival prime ministers told The Associated Press that he has no immediate plans to rule from the capital of Tripoli, after his attempted move there last week sparked clashes and fears of a return to widespread civil strife.

In an interview late Wednesday, Prime Minister Fathi Bashagha said that his government will work from its headquarters in Sirte, a city on the Mediterranean coast about halfway between the country's east and west. Rival administrations from each end of Libya claim to be its legitimate rulers until elections are held.

A Turkish soldier was killed Thursday during a military operation against Kurdish militants in the north of Iraq, Turkey's defense ministry said.

Tunisia will hold a constitutional referendum for a "new republic" on July 25, President Kais Saied has announced, in defiance of critics who warn he wants to establish an autocracy.

Israel has told the United States it was responsible for the killing of an Iranian Revolutionary Guards colonel last week, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

A United Arab Emirates company signed a contract with the Taliban authorities Tuesday to provide ground handling services at Afghanistan's three airports, officials said, as the country seeks to resume international transit.

Capital Kabul's only airport was trashed in August when tens of thousands of people rushed to evacuate as the US-led forces withdrew.

Israeli authorities said Tuesday they have foiled a wide-ranging plot by Palestinian militant Hamas group to shoot a member of parliament, kidnap soldiers and bomb Jerusalem's light rail system during a surge of violence that has left dozens dead in recent weeks.

The police and Shin Bet security services said in a statement that five Palestinian men from east Jerusalem had been arrested for allegedly planning a shooting attack against far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir and other targets at a time of heightened tensions in the flashpoint city.

A gas cylinder explosion in the capital of the United Arab Emirates has killed two people and injured 120 others, police said, hours after authorities downplayed the incident and warned the public not to share images of the aftermath.

The explosion struck a restaurant just after 1 p.m. in Abu Dhabi's Khalidiya neighborhood, just a few blocks from the capital's beachfront corniche. Initially, Abu Dhabi police vaguely referred to damage and injuries, showing pictures of glass and debris littering the street.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to launch a new military operation in Syria to secure Turkey's southern border.

Speaking following a Cabinet meeting, Erdogan said the aim of the operation would be resume Turkish efforts to create a 30-kilometer (20 mile) safe zone along its border with Syria.

A sandstorm blanketed parts of the Middle East on Monday, including Iraq, Syria and Iran, sending people to hospitals and disrupting flights in some places.

It was the latest in a series of unprecedented nearly back-to-back sandstorms this year that have bewildered residents and raised alarm among experts and officials, who blame climate change and poor governmental regulations.