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Israel strikes 'Hezbollah intelligence' sites in Damascus

Syria’s state news agency reported an Israeli airstrike on a southern suburb of the Syrian capital of Damascus, saying it caused material damage but not casualties.

SANA says the Monday airstrike hit near the suburb of Sayida Zeinab. Iran-backed groups are active in the area south of the capital, which is home to a holy Shiite Muslim shrine.

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Palestinian officials say Israeli settlers torched cars in Ramallah

Palestinian officials said Israeli settlers were behind an attack in which several cars were torched overnight just a few kilometers (miles) away from the Palestinian Authority’s headquarters in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

No one was wounded in the attack overnight into Monday in Al-Bireh, a city adjacent to Ramallah, where the Western-backed Palestinian Authority is headquartered. An Associated Press reporter counted 18 burned-out cars.

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Iran slams US deployment of B-52 bombers as 'destabilizing'

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei on Monday criticized what he called the United States' "destabilizing presence" after the deployment of B-52 bombers in the region.

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Iran president says ceasefire in Lebanon or Gaza 'could affect' response to Israel

Iran's president said a potential ceasefire between its allies and Israel "could affect the intensity" of Tehran's response to Israel's recent strikes on Iranian military sites.

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Israel ends agreement with UN agency for Palestinian refugees

Israel said Monday it had terminated the agreement facilitating the work of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, the main aid provider in Gaza.

It appeared to be the first step in implementing legislation passed last month that would sever ties with the agency, which Israel says has been infiltrated by Hamas, and prevent it from operating in Israel.

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Israel stages ground raid into Syria, abducts Syrian man linked to Iran

The Israeli military said it has carried out a ground raid into Syria, seizing a Syrian citizen involved in Iranian networks. It was the first time in the current war that Israel announced its troops operated in Syrian territory.

Israel has carried out airstrikes in Syria multiple times over the past year, targeting members of Lebanon's Hezbollah and officials from Iran, the close ally of both Hezbollah and Syria. But it has not previously made public any ground forays into Syria.

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Israel probes leaks that appear to have bolstered Netanyahu as Gaza truce talks stalled

An Israeli court has loosened a gag order on a case investigating leaks of classified information suspected to involve one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's media advisers. Critics say the leaks were aimed at giving Netanyahu political cover as Gaza cease-fire talks ground to a halt.

Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing, downplaying the affair and publicly calling for the gag order to be lifted. Netanyahu has said the person in question "never participated in security discussions, was not exposed to or received classified information, and did not take part in secret visits."

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Israel pummels Lebanon and Gaza, killing dozens in fresh waves of airstrikes

Israel launched dozens of intense airstrikes across Lebanon's northeastern farming villages on Friday, killing at least 52 people and wounding scores more, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported.

In central Gaza, Palestinians recovered the bodies of 25 people killed in a barrage of Israeli aerial attacks that began Thursday, hospital officials said.

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Khamenei threatens Israel and US with 'crushing response' over attacks on Iran, allies

Iran's supreme leader on Saturday threatened Israel and the U.S. with "a crushing response" over attacks on Iran and its allies.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke as Iranian officials are increasingly threatening to launch yet another strike against Israel after its Oct. 26 attack on the Islamic Republic that targeted military bases and other locations and killed at least five people.

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Macron acknowledges Algerian independence leader was 'killed by French soldiers' in 1957

President Emmanuel Macron on Friday recognized that Larbi Ben M'hidi, a key figure in Algeria's War of Independence against France, had been killed by French soldiers after his arrest in 1957, the French presidency said.

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