Syrian national Issa Shamma expressed gratitude and hope as he is getting ready to leave Cyprus to start a new life in Italy barely a week before Christmas.

Pope Francis who visited Cyprus earlier this month, would take 50 migrants from Cyprus to Italy, including Muslims, in a gesture of "solidarity," Cypriot authorities said.

A spokesman for Christian churches in the Holy Land has accused Israel of discriminating against Christian tourists during the normally busy Christmas holiday season.

Israel last month closed its borders to foreign tourists in response to the outbreak of the omicron coronavirus variant.

The U.S. Navy said Thursday it rescued five Iranians suspected of smuggling drugs after they apparently set fire to their stash on board a traditional sailing vessel off the coast of Oman.

The Navy released aerial surveillance footage showing the traditional ship, known as a dhow, as it sailed in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday. Those on board pour a liquid, likely an accelerant, over the cargo hold as the Navy approaches. Smoke then pours from the vessel after those on board apparently set the fire, with an explosion rocking the ship.

A Syrian soldier was killed Thursday in an Israeli missile raid from the occupied Golan Heights into southern Syria, state media reported.

The U.S. Navy announced Wednesday it tested a laser weapon and destroyed a floating target in the Mideast, a system that could be used to counter bomb-laden drone boats deployed by Yemen's Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.

The test Tuesday saw the USS Portland test-fire its Laser Weapon System Demonstrator at the target in the Gulf of Aden, the body of water separating East Africa from the Arabian Peninsula.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has called for an "effective and serious" approach to Iran's ballistic and nuclear program, during a Gulf summit in Riyadh.

The United Arab Emirates has suspended talks on a $23 billion deal to purchase American-made F-35 planes, armed drones and other equipment, in a rare dispute between Washington and a key U.S. ally in the Persian Gulf.

Opponents of Tunisian President Kais Saied on Tuesday slammed his decision to extend a months-long suspension of parliament, accusing him of dealing another blow to the country's nascent democracy.

Saied had on Monday evening vowed to press on with reforms to Tunisia's political system, after he sacked the government, froze the legislature and seized wide-ranging executive powers in July.

Israel's intelligence minister said Tuesday that Syria cannot be allowed to obtain chemical weapons, after a report emerged that Israel targeted the country's chemical weapons facilities.

In an interview with Israeli Army Radio, Elazar Stern would not directly comment on the report in the Washington Post that said that Israel struck Syria on two occasions — once this year and once last year — in a bid to block attempts to rebuild its chemical weapons stockpile. But Stern, a retired military general, hinted that Israel could not accept such weapons in the hands of its enemy to the north.

Geneva prosecutors have fined a Swiss bank for failing to alert money laundering authorities about a portion of more than $100 million from Saudi Arabia that went to former Spanish King Juan Carlos and his ex-lover, but dropped possible charges against his associates in the case.

The Geneva prosecutor's office, in a statement Monday, said it partially dropped an investigation opened three years ago of five people for alleged money laundering, while deciding that the Mirabaud bank had failed to properly communicate with the Swiss money laundering office.