The U.N. on Tuesday said it was almost impossible to imagine people returning to Syria's ruined Yarmuk Palestinian camp, a day after the government recaptured it from jihadists.

Outside Syria's famed Umayyad Mosque, Ibrahim Mehrez snapped a cellphone picture of his friends and posted it to Instagram, typing out an exultant caption: "Damascus is safe. Syria's alright."

The Palestinian foreign minister on Tuesday called on the International Criminal Court "to open an immediate investigation" into war crimes and apartheid against the Palestinian people.

An Iraqi court on Tuesday sentenced a Belgian jihadist, who threatened Europe in propaganda videos, to death by hanging for membership of the Islamic State group.

An Israeli tank fired at a Hamas position Tuesday after Gazans infiltrated the Jewish state and torched a military post before returning to the Palestinian enclave, the army said.

Syrian police deployed across devastated districts in southern Damascus on Tuesday, according to state media, a day after the government captured the area from the Islamic State group.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas remained in hospital for a third day Tuesday with pneumonia, with a hospital spokeswoman saying there was as yet no timeframe for his discharge.

A Saudi Arabian Airlines Airbus A330 jet made an emergency landing in the western Red Sea city of Jeddah, injuring 53 people, aviation officials said on Tuesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday hailed the United States' policy on Iran and urged the rest of the world to follow suit.

Palestinian protesters on Monday threw eggs at a U.S. delegation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and held up signs with anti-American slogans in a bid to prevent them attending an event.