Israelis hailed a US announcement that it no longer considers settlements in the West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem illegal, but the Palestinians pledged fresh measures to oppose it Tuesday.

The Israeli military said it intercepted four incoming rockets from Syria on Tuesday and explosions were heard shortly after that in Damascus, a week after another Israeli strike targeted a top Palestinian militant in the Syrian capital.

Israeli air defense systems captured the projectiles, the military said, and no harm was caused to Israeli communities in the Golan Heights after warning sirens awoke residents there early in the morning. There was no immediate official comment from Syria but the SANA state news agency reported explosions were heard near Damascus International Airport, indicating a potential Israeli retaliatory strike.

The United States no longer considers Israeli settlements to be "inconsistent with international law," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Monday, in a shift in American foreign policy.

Turkey's top diplomat on Monday warned Ankara could launch further action against Kurdish forces in northern Syria, accusing the U.S. and Russia of failing to fulfill their agreements.

After weeks of talks over a new Israeli government have gone around in circles, Benjamin Netanyahu's rival Benny Gantz had just two days left Monday to form a coalition and become prime minister.

Anti-government demonstrators in southern Iraq blocked roads leading to the country’s main port on Monday, while the country’s central bank reduced working hours because of ongoing demonstrations, security officials said.

Protesters burned tires, blocking the roads to the Umm Qasr port, responsible for the bulk of the country’s commodities imports, a Basra security official said.

Yemen's prime minister on Monday flew back to the southern city of Aden under the terms of a peace deal with southern separatists who expelled the government from its provisional capital in August.

At least seven civilians were killed, most of them foreign workers, and 30 wounded in an air strike Monday that hit a biscuit factory in southern Tripoli, Libya's health ministry said.

The New York Times and The Intercept say they have reviewed hundreds of pages of purported Iranian intelligence documents that detail Iran’s massive influence in neighboring Iraq.

They say the unprecedented leak of 700 pages of Iranian intelligence cables shows Tehran’s efforts to embed itself in Iraq, including paying Iraqi agents working for the United States to switch sides.

It posted tens of thousands of troops in Iraq, huddled with its leaders and helped craft its laws -- but with the country swamped by deadly protests, Washington is staying out of the fray.