Thousands of young Arabs who took up studies in Ukraine, often fleeing violence back home, are appealing to be rescued from a new nightmare -- Russia's full scale invasion of the country.

More than 10,000 Arab students attend university in Ukraine, drawn to the former Soviet republic by a low cost of living and, for many, the lure of relative safety compared with their own troubled homelands.

With Russian forces in neighboring Syria, Washington its unswerving ally and about a million citizens with ties to the former Soviet Union, Israel is seeking a delicate balance in the Ukraine crisis.

Israel condemned Russia's attack on Ukraine Thursday as a "violation of the international order" but underlined its close ties with both Moscow and Kyiv. 

The Palestinian U.N. ambassador, wearing a mask saying "End Apartheid,"has accused Israel of engaging in "apartheid" in nearly a dozen ways, and Israel's ambassador accused him of regurgitating claims from the Palestinian Authority, which he said "promotes hate, incitement, violence and terror."

The exchange at the U.N. Security Council's monthly meeting on the Middle East reflected the huge chasm between Israel and the Palestinians, and the immense challenge to ending decades of conflict with a two-state solution that would see the antagonists live side-by-side in peace, as the United Nations and many others have sought for years.

Yemen's Houthi rebels have detained another official of the long-closed U.S. Embassy there, bringing the number of local ex-U.S. Embassy staffers in the rebel group's custody to at least 11, according to accounts from Yemeni officials and others.

The Houthis, an Iran-backed group that controls the capital, Sanaa, and much of Yemen's north, took into custody a former press officer from the U.S. Embassy last week, according to a rights lawyer in Sanaa, Abdel-Majeed Sabra, and a family member of a detainee. The family member spoke on condition of anonymity because of the fear of reprisals.

The head of the U.N. food agency has warned that 13 million Yemenis are headed for starvation due to a protracted civil conflict and a lack of funding for humanitarian aid.

In an interview with The Associated Press, David Beasley said that Yemen was "in a very bad situation" with more than 40 percent of the population already relying on food supplies from the World Food Program.

At least six pro-government fighters, including Syrian troops, were killed in Israeli air strikes Thursday targeting positions held by Iran-backed groups near the capital Damascus, a war monitor reported.

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Tuesday to end Iraq's requirement to compensate victims of its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, with Baghdad having paid out more than $50 billion to 1.5 million claimants.

Michael Gaffey, Ireland's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva and president of the governing board of the U.N. Compensation Commission, whose fund decided on the claims, told the council after the vote that the body's work was a "historic achievement for the United Nations and for effective multilateralism."

After keeping a low profile in the military and diplomatic standoff between Moscow and Kyiv due to its close ties with both, Israel says it supports the territorial integrity and the sovereignty of Ukraine.

A statement Wednesday from Israel's foreign ministry expressed concern about the "serious escalation" in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow is formally recognizing the independence of two pro-Russian breakaway regions.

Oman's foreign minister arrived in Tehran on Wednesday for talks with his Iranian counterpart, state media reported, as nuclear talks between Iran and world powers continue in Vienna.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian welcomed Sayyid Badr Albusaidi upon his arrival, with the visit scheduled to focus on bilateral and international affairs, the IRNA news agency said.