The Lebanese government “needs to rein in Hezbollah” or else Israel “will be forced to do so,” Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid warned on Tuesday, as he headed to France for an official visit.

The annual hajj pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam, will start on Wednesday with one million vaccinated Muslims from around the world allowed to take part this year.

In 2019, some 2.5 million pilgrims from around the world participated.

Libyans angered by rising prices, chronic power cuts and political deadlock planned further demonstrations Monday after a night of angry protests across the capital. 

Masked youths set alight car tires and blocked roads including a major coastal highway between central Tripoli and its western suburbs, but security forces did not intervene.

White-robed worshippers from across the world have packed the streets of Mecca as Islam's holiest city prepares to host the biggest hajj pilgrimage since the coronavirus pandemic.

Banners welcoming the faithful, including the first international visitors since 2019, festooned squares and alleys, while armed security forces patrolled the ancient city, birthplace of the Prophet Mohammed.

The U.S. Navy's Mideast-based 5th Fleet is starting to offer rewards for information that could help sailors intercept weapons, drugs and other illicit shipments across the region amid tensions over Iran's nuclear program and Tehran's arming of Yemen's Houthi rebels.

While avoiding directly mentioning Iran, the 5th Fleet's decision to offer cash and other goods for actionable intelligence in the Persian Gulf and other strategic waterways may increase pressure on the flow of weapons to the Houthis as a shaky cease-fire still holds in Yemen.

Libya's rival leaders are under growing street pressure after protesters stormed parliament as anger exploded over deteriorating living conditions and political deadlock.

An Israeli airstrike targeted suspected Hezbollah posts in Syria's coastal Tartus province on Saturday morning, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Protesters have stormed Libya's parliament in the eastern city of Tobruk and set parts of it ablaze, venting their anger at deteriorating living conditions and months of political deadlock.

Tunisian President Kais Saied on Friday unveiled a new draft constitution that would bestow broad powers to the president and curtail the authority of the prime minister and parliament.

A referendum on the constitution is scheduled for July 25, exactly to the day when a year earlier Saied suspended parliament and seized power. He said the move was necessary to "save the country" from political and economic crisis, prompting strong criticism from the opposition, which accuses him of slide toward totalitarianism.

Palestinian authorities in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip systematically torture critics in detention, a practice that could amount to crimes against humanity, an international rights group said Friday.

Human Rights Watch called in its report for donor countries to cut off funding to Palestinian security forces that commit such crimes and urged the International Criminal Court to investigate.