Armed men raided the headquarters of Palestinian Authority media in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip on Friday, station staff said, causing damage to equipment.

Egypt has asked CBS not to air an interview with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in which he discussed cooperation with Israel in the fight against Sinai jihadists, the U.S. network said.

The U.N. envoy for Yemen will hold a new round of talks with Huthi rebels and the Saudi-backed government in the coming days as the United Nations said Thursday that a ceasefire in the key port city of Hodeida was holding.

U.S. President Donald Trump has offered a rather stark take on the situation in war-wracked Syria, summing it up in two words -- "sand and death" -- while remaining vague about the timing of the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

"So Syria was lost long ago. It was lost long ago. And besides that, I don't want -- we're talking about sand and death. That's what we're talking about," Trump said during a cabinet meeting.

Israeli far-right activists clashed with police Thursday as authorities moved in to clear away two mobile homes illegally set up in the occupied West Bank.

Syria's Kurds have established an autonomous region during seven years of civil war, but the abrupt decision by their U.S. ally to withdraw has thrown their political future into doubt.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday said Ankara and Baghdad would deepen cooperation against terrorism after tensions last month over Turkish air strikes against Kurdish militants in Iraq.

Saudi Arabia's attorney general sought the death penalty for five of 11 defendants charged with the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi as their high-profile trial opened in Riyadh on Thursday.

With little resistance from a friendly White House, Israel has launched a new settlement push in the West Bank since President Donald Trump took office, laying the groundwork for what could be the largest construction binge in years, according to data obtained by The Associated Press.

The figures, gathered from official government sources by the anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now, show an increase in building in 2018 and a sharp spike in planning for future construction.

President Donald Trump's decision to pull American troops out of Syria "in no way changes anything" in terms of U.S. support and protection of Israel, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said.

Pompeo gave the assurance as he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks in Brasilia on the sidelines of the inauguration of Brazil's new president, Jair Bolsonaro.