Thousands of tearful Shiite pilgrims wearing gloves and face masks  flooded Iraq's holy city of Karbala Sunday to mark Ashura, one of the largest Muslim gatherings since the Covid-19 pandemic started.

Ashura, on the 10th day of the mourning month of Muharram, commemorates the killing of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson Hussein at the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD -- the defining moment of Islam's confessional schism.

The United Arab Emirates announced Saturday it had repealed legislation imposing a boycott of Israel after the two countries struck a US-brokered deal to normalise relations.

Libya's UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) on Friday said the interior minister had been suspended after militia gunmen fired on peaceful protesters last week.

The United States plans to reduce its military force in Iraq from the current 5,200 to about 3,500 by November, U.S. officials said Friday. The cut would be in line with President Donald Trump's repeated call to bring troops home and his reelection campaign pledge to end what he calls "endless wars."

The plan to shrink the U.S. force in Iraq was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Officials who confirmed the plan spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a matter not yet publicly announced.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has headed home after a Middle East tour aimed at encouraging Arab countries to follow the UAE's move and normalize relations with Israel.

Saudi authorities are reviewing death penalties against three men convicted of crimes when they were minors, a statement said, as the kingdom seeks to improve its human rights record.

Egypt on Friday arrested a top leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, the latest swept up by Cairo's long-running crackdown against the outlawed Islamist group, the interior ministry said.

Israeli tanks and warplanes bombed Hamas positions in Gaza Friday and the Islamists retaliated with rockets as a three-week-old flare-up showed no let-up despite international mediation efforts.

Russian military vehicles and attack helicopters surrounded two US armored cars in a tense confrontation in northeastern Syria Wednesday, leaving US troops injured, according to the White House.

Israeli police said they were holding a Palestinian suspected of stabbing to death an Israeli man Wednesday near Tel Aviv in what they were treating as a "terrorist attack."

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the suspect was a 46-year-old-man from the West Bank city of Nablus.