The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees has until the summer to secure new funding after only managing to partially cover a near-half-a-billion shortfall at a summit in Rome, the organization's head said Thursday. 

The presidents of Turkey, Russia and Iran will meet for a three-way summit on Syria in Istanbul on April 4, the Turkish foreign ministry said on Thursday.

Syrian troops and government-linked militia have systematically used rape and sexual violence against civilians, atrocities that amount to crimes against humanity, a U.N.-backed inquiry said Thursday. 

Israel's supreme court on Thursday suspended a controversial government plan to deport thousands of Eritrean and Sudanese migrants in response to a challenge from those opposed to the move.

The court said in its decision the state was given until March 26 to provide further information and the suspension on deporting them to a third country would remain in place until then.

The Red Cross said Thursday its president had traveled with a convoy carrying desperately needed food into Syria's rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has said if Iran develops a nuclear weapon, Riyadh will follow suit -- just days before he arrives in Washington for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump.

"Saudi Arabia does not want to acquire any nuclear bomb, but without a doubt, if Iran developed a nuclear bomb, we will follow suit as soon as possible," Prince Mohammed told CBS television in an interview, parts of which were released Thursday.

Moscow said Thursday it was committed to helping Syria's regime "finish off" rebels in Eastern Ghouta, confirming its military is playing a role in the assault on the rebel enclave. 

Turkey on Thursday said it would oust Kurdish militia from the centre of Afrin in northern Syria "in a very short time", as pro-Ankara forces surrounded the city.

A prominent lawyer involved in a deal that saw some Islamic State jihadists given safe passage out of their Syrian bastion Raqa last year was found dead on Thursday, authorities said. 

Syria's lacerating conflict entered its eighth year Thursday with the country riven by international power struggles, as Turkey encircled a besieged northern Kurdish enclave, while Russian-backed regime forces pounded into shrinking rebel areas near Damascus.