It was uncharted territory for the Israeli journalist. Wandering through the rustic outdoor marketplace in Doha before the start of the World Cup, he zeroed in on a Qatari man in his traditional headdress and white flowing robe and asked for an interview.

"Which channel?" the Qatari asked. The journalist replied he was from Kan, Israel's public broadcaster.

Heavy rains in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah on Thursday delayed flights, forced school suspensions and closed the road to Mecca, Islam's holiest city, state media reported. 

A deadly Turkish drone strike against a base used jointly by Kurdish and American forces in northeast Syria did put U.S. troops in danger after all, Central Command said Wednesday.

The body of an Israeli teenager snatched by Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank was returned to his relatives Thursday, following intense talks to avoid an escalation of violence. 

Saudi Arabia's unexpected World Cup victory over giants Argentina triggered a rare moment of joint celebration across the fractured Arab world including among Qataris -- less than two years after a seething regional dispute.

Turkey said Wednesday it was more determined than ever to secure its Syrian border from attacks by Kurdish forces, threatening a ground operation "at the most convenient time."

A Turkish drone strike hit a Kurdish position inside a Russian base in northeastern Syria on Wednesday killing one Kurdish fighter and wounding three, a Kurdish military official told AFP.

At least one person was killed and 14 wounded in two separate explosions targeting bus stops in Jerusalem Wednesday, security and medical officials said, with Israel's public security minister calling them "attacks."

A colonel in Iran's Revolutionary Guards has been killed by an improvised bomb outside the Syrian capital Damascus, Iranian media reported Wednesday, pointing the finger at Israel.

Yemen's Houthi rebels targeted a ship at an oil terminal in the south of the country on Monday, the internationally recognized government said, in the latest in a series of recent attacks that threaten to escalate the conflict after months of relative calm.

The government, which controls the territory where the terminal is located, said in a statement that the strike took place while a commercial ship was in the port of Al-Dabah, near the city of Mukalla, and that it had been carried out by drones. It did not say whether any damage had been sustained or to which nation the vessel belonged.