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Gaza health officials say Israeli strikes kill five

Gaza health officials said Israeli strikes killed five people including a child in the Palestinian territory.

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Iran says will respond to any US violation of memorandum of understanding

Iran will respond to any U.S. violation of the memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war in the Middle East, its foreign ministry spokesperson said Tuesday, as delegations from both sides were expected in Qatar for indirect talks on the deal.

"We will not leave any action unanswered. As Iran's powerful armed forces have demonstrated, any act of aggression against the objectives of the Islamic Republic of Iran will be met with an immediate and decisive response," Esmaeil Baqaei told reporters at a weekly press conference.

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U.S. envoys arrive in Qatar for meetings on Iran

Two U.S. envoys arrived in Qatar on Tuesday for talks with mediators about the implementation of an initial deal to end the war in Iran, an official said.

The visit by Steve Witkoff, U.S. President Donald Trump's special Mideast envoy, and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, comes after a weekend of crossfire in the Persian Gulf over efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic.

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Qatar says no direct US-Iran talks to take place in Doha

Mediator Qatar said on Tuesday that no high-level meetings or direct talks between the United States and Iran were planned in Doha after Washington said it had sent a top delegation for negotiations.

"To the best of my knowledge, there are no direct meetings scheduled between the two parties in the coming days," foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari told reporters in Doha, adding that the American team would meet with mediators. "To my knowledge there is no high-level meeting between the two sides."

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US and Iran pause strikes but disagree over next steps on talks

The United States and Iran on Monday separately announced they will send delegations to Qatar this week, though Tehran insisted it has not agreed to meet with the U.S. "at any level" after attacks across the Persian Gulf over the weekend challenged negotiations to end the war.

U.S. President Donald Trump said the Islamic Republic had requested a meeting with U.S. counterparts and that they planned to convene Tuesday in Doha, Qatar.

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Israeli troops face resistance from residents as they push into Syria town

As Israeli troops and vehicles entered the town of Abdin in southern Syria, residents blocked the roads with rocks, and some young men and boys threw stones to push back the military patrol.

Tensions in this part of the country created by a buffer zone occupied by Israeli forces have flared into violence in recent days, leaving residents anxious that more escalation is coming. Residents of Abdin, located near a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone now controlled by Israeli troops, tried to resist against a military incursion Sunday.

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Palestinian women in Lebanon find identity and resilience in embroidery

Decades later, Samar Kabouli still fondly recalls gathering with women in her family and sipping cardamom-spiced coffee as they embroidered fabric with colorful threads in traditional Palestinian patterns.

Born in Lebanon to Palestinian refugees, Kabouli had never seen her parents' homeland. But more than just making pretty designs, the threads in her needle were stitching a connection to her heritage.

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Iraq sets September 30 deadline for pro-Iran groups to disarm

Iraq's government has given pro-Iran armed groups in the country until September 30 to disarm, its spokesman said during a press conference on Monday.

The announcement comes ahead of a visit to the United States by new Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, with Washington exerting pressure on Baghdad to ensure the factions turn in their weapons.

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Israel moves to formally recognize Armenian WWI deaths as a genocide

Israel's Cabinet unanimously approved a proposal on Sunday to designate violence against Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I as a genocide.

The step, which still needs approval in Parliament, reflects deteriorating ties between Israel and Turkey. Turkey has fiercely lobbied to prevent countries from officially recognizing the mass deaths of Armenians around 1915 as a genocide, even as Armenians have pushed for it.

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Trump says Iran requested meeting in Doha Tuesday, Iran says no meeting expected

President Donald Trump said Monday on social media that Iran had requested a meeting with U.S. counterparts, though Iranian officials said no such meeting was scheduled.

The U.S. president has tried to preserve an increasingly fragile interim deal as hostilities have mounted in the Strait of Hormuz in recent days, which could cause oil prices to rise and undermine Trump's claims to voters that inflation in America was easing.

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