Iraqi lawmakers passed early Monday controversial amendments to the country's election law that could undermine the chances for smaller parties and independent candidates to win seats in future polls.

The amendments increase the size of electoral districts, a move widely backed by the Coordination Framework, a coalition of Iran-backed parties. The coalition forms the majority bloc in the current parliament, which brought Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to power last year.

The Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers have vowed to meet before the end of the holy month of Ramadan to implement a landmark bilateral reconciliation deal, Riyadh said on Monday.

Saudi Prince Faisal bin Farhan and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, held their second phone call in less than a week and discussed "a number of common issues … in light of" the surprise agreement brokered by China and announced on March 10, the officials Saudi Press Agency reported.

Israel's top trade union chief called a general strike Monday over the hard-right government's controversial judicial reforms, a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sacked his defense minister who had called for a stop to the overhaul.

"I am calling a general strike," Histadrut chairman Arnon Bar-David said in a televised address. "From the moment this press conference ends, the State of Israel stops.

Tens of thousands of Israelis have rallied anew in Tel Aviv against a controversial judicial overhaul, as Defense Minister Yoav Galant broke ranks to call for a pause to the government reforms.

The latest demonstration to hit Israel's commercial hub came days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to press on with the changes despite mounting international alarm.

Tehran has condemned U.S. airstrikes on Iran-linked forces in Syria that reportedly killed 19 people, which Washington said it carried out following a deadly drone attack on U.S. forces.

The Iranian foreign ministry late Saturday condemned "the belligerent and terrorist attack of the American army on civilian targets" in the eastern Syrian region of Deir Ezzor.

The death toll from retaliatory U.S. strikes on Iran-linked groups in Syria following a deadly drone attack has risen to 19, a war monitor said Saturday, as Washington insisted it is not seeking conflict with Tehran.

Further rocket attacks by Iran-backed militias took place late Friday, prompting more strikes by coalition warplanes, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Israel's attorney general on Friday warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he has violated the Supreme Court's conflict of interest ruling, which barred him from direct involvement in his government's divisive plans for a judicial overhaul.

Netanyahu's far-right government has barreled ahead with plans to weaken the Supreme Court and grant politicians less judicial oversight in their policymaking despite massive protests from across Israeli society — including an uproar among business leaders, top legal officials and military reservists. On Thursday, just hours after his coalition passed a law that would protect the Israeli leader from being deemed unfit to rule because of his corruption trial and claims of a conflict of interest, Netanyahu defiantly pledged to proceed with the overhaul.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak held talks with Benjamin Netanyahu in London on Friday as protesters shouting "Shame!" In Hebrew demonstrated against the Israeli leader's right-wing policies and his plans to overhaul the country's judiciary.

Netanyahu had to pass by hundreds of protesters waving Israeli flags and waving signs calling for the defense of Israeli democracy as he arrived at 10 Downing St. for talks that focused on the war in Ukraine and concerns about Iran's nuclear program.

The Islamic State group killed 15 people foraging for desert truffles in conflict-ravaged central Syria by cutting their throats, while 40 others are missing, a war monitor said Friday.

Syria's desert truffles fetch high prices in a country battered by 12 years of war and a crushing economic crisis.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to "mend the rift" in a nation deeply divided over his proposed overhaul of the country's judiciary. But he offered no details on how he intends to do so and gave no indication that he would slow down the plan.

Netanyahu delivered his appeal in a nationally televised address after another day of mass protests across the country against the plan, and hours after his parliamentary coalition passed the first in a series of laws that make up the overhaul. His vague pledges were quickly rejected by the protest movement, which said it would continue to oppose "Netanyahu's attempt to become a dictator."