Repairs have begun at the airport in Syria's capital, which was closed for a second day Saturday after Israeli air strikes, Syria's transport ministry said.

A coalition of 10 rights groups Friday condemned a decree by Tunisian President Kais Saied firing scores of judges, describing it as a "deep blow to judicial independence".

The June 1 presidential decree saw Saied award himself the power to fire judges, and he duly sacked 57 of them, further cementing a power grab that began in July last year when he dismissed the government and suspended an elected parliament.

The United States is restoring a line of communication for the Palestinians that had been canceled by the Trump administration.

The move, announced before a possible visit by President Joe Biden to Israel and the occupied West Bank, is bureaucratic in nature. But it means the Palestinians will deal directly with the U.S. State Department in Washington rather than first go through the American ambassador to Israel.

All flights to and from Syria's capital were halted Friday, the government said, after Israeli air strikes wounded at least one civilian and reportedly caused damage to an airport runway.

Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank may soon get a taste of the military rule that Palestinians have been living under for 55 years.

If Israel's parliament does not act, a special legal status accorded to the settlers will expire at the end of the month, with wide-ranging consequences. Lawyers who live in the settlements, including two members of Israel's Supreme Court, will no longer be allowed to practice law. Settlers would be subject to military courts usually reserved for Palestinians and would lose access to some public services.

Israeli citizens will be allowed to travel to Qatar to watch football's 2022 World Cup, despite the absence of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the government said. 

World football's governing body "FIFA has confirmed that Israeli citizens will be able to enter Qatar during the World Cup and watch games, just like all fans around the world," a joint statement by Israel's defence, foreign and sports ministries said late Thursday.

Turkey's president said Thursday he hoped Ankara's allies would "understand and respect" its announced operation against Kurdish militants in northern Syria, after Washington denounced the planned offensive. 

Ankara has for weeks threatened to target the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria, deemed a "terrorist group" by Turkey. 

A Palestinian died in the occupied West Bank Thursday after being shot in the stomach by Israeli forces, the Palestinian health ministry said, in the latest bloodshed in the territory.

The ministry said 27-year-old Mahmud Fayez Abu Ayhour was killed in Halhul, north of the flashpoint city of Hebron. The Israeli army told AFP it was checking the circumstances of the incident. 

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett made a surprise visit to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, with the snap trip coming as efforts to salvage a deal over Iran's nuclear program are stalled in a deepening standoff with Tehran.

The visit was Bennett's second public trip to Abu Dhabi since Israel and the UAE agreed to normalize ties in 2020 after years of quiet cooperation, mainly over their shared concerns over Iran's nuclear capabilities.

Three people were wounded Wednesday evening after an armed drone struck a road in the suburbs of Iraqi Kurdistan's Erbil, security services said.

"Several vehicles were damaged" in the attack, the Kurdistan Autonomous Counter-Terrorism Agency said in a statement, which took place on the road that connects Erbil to Pirmam to its northeast.