Syria's de facto leader said it could take up to four years to hold elections in Syria, and that he plans to dissolve his Islamist group that led the country's insurgency at an anticipated national dialogue summit for the country.

Ahmad al-Sharaa, who leads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the group leading the new authority in Syria, made the remarks in an interview with Saudi television network Al-Arabiya. It comes almost a month after a lightning insurgency led by HTS overthrew President Bashar Assad's decades-long rule, ending the country's uprising-turned civil war that started back in 2011.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu underwent successful surgery Sunday to have his prostate removed, hospital officials said, a procedure that came as he manages multiple crises including the war in Gaza and his trial for alleged corruption.

Netanyahu, who has had a series of health issues in recent years, has gone to great lengths to bolster a public image of himself as a healthy, energetic leader. During his trial this month, he boasted about working 18-hour days, accompanied by a cigar. But as Israel's longest-serving leader, such a grueling workload over a total of 17 years in power could take a toll on his well-being.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to undergo prostate removal surgery on Sunday, his office said after he was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection.

The Israeli military said it intercepted two projectiles fired from northern Gaza toward Israel on Saturday, as the army continued its sweeping offensive in the north of the Palestinian territory.

Syria's embassy in Lebanon suspended consular services Saturday, a day after two relatives of deposed Syrian President Bashar Assad were arrested at the Beirut airport with allegedly forged passports.

Also on Saturday, Lebanese authorities handed over dozens of Syrians — including former officers in the Syrian army under Assad — to the new Syrian authorities after they were caught illegally entering Lebanon, a war monitor and Lebanese officials said.

The top diplomats of China and Iran agreed Saturday that the Middle East is "not a battleground for the big powers" and should not be an arena of geopolitical competition between countries outside the region.

The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen early Saturday, a day after the Houthi-held capital Sanaa was hit by fresh air strikes.

Israeli troops stormed and set fire to one of the last hospitals operating in the northernmost part of Gaza on Friday, forcing many of the staff and patients out of the facility, the territory’s health ministry said.

Iran's top diplomat warned Friday against "destructive interference" in Syria's future and said decisions should lie solely with the country's people, writing in Chinese state media as he visited Beijing.

The Arab League regional bloc has called on Iran not to fuel "strife" in Syria, after the ouster of Tehran ally president Bashar al-Assad ended decades of rule by his clan.

Assad's government crumbled on December 8 and he fled for Russia, another key backer of his rule, after an Islamist-led coalition of fighters wrested control of city after city until they reached Damascus.