Middle East

Senior Syrian Kurdish official says his forces will pull back from a border area in accordance with a US-brokered deal after Turkey allows the evacuation of its remaining fighters and civilians from a besieged town there. US Defense Secretary Mark Esper, meanwhile, says all of the nearly 1,000 troops withdrawing from northern Syria are expected to move to western Iraq to continue the campaign against Islamic State fighters and "to help defend Iraq."

As protests erupt nationwide over Lebanon's dire economic situation, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah says unity government should bring a "new spirit" to tacking the crisis.

"Turkey has legitimate national security concerns within Syria but they cannot be met by invasion and force of arms," Senator Lindsey Graham says.

Truce announced by US Vice President Mike Pence after talks in Ankara with Turkey's President Tayyip Erdoğan, and swiftly hailed by President Donald Trump, who said it would save "millions of lives."

Jews with passports other than Israeli ones are welcome to visit Tunisia’s synagogues, but there will be ”no dealings with Zionists,” says Kaïs Saïed.

Iraqi security officials tell Reuters that the militias decided, without consultation, to help quash the violent anti-government protests that rocked Baghdad earlier this month.

Kurds have turned to Syrian President Bashar Assad and Russia for protection. Hundreds of refugees have crossed into Iraq. Doctors Without Borders pulls international staff out of northeastern Syria.

Hamas officials say Saudi authorities intensified a crackdown on the Islamist group's supporters in the kingdom this year, rounding up dozens of Palestinian doctors, engineers and traders across the country. The move apparently came as Hamas announced it has fully restored ties with Iran, Riyadh's longtime regional rival.