An explosion was heard in central Damascus on Tuesday as French President Emmanuel Macron visited the Syrian capital, AFP journalists said, with witnesses reporting smoke rising near a high-end hotel where the leader spent the night.

At least one blast was heard before ambulances rushed to the scene, while Macron, the first Western European leader to visit Syria since the 2024 fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, held talks with Syrian counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa at the presidential palace.

Iranian state television early Tuesday aired live images from a helicopter of hundreds of thousands of people walking toward Jamkaran Mosque, just south of Qom, for a funeral service for Khamenei. The mosque is believed by Shiites to have once hosted the Muhammad al-Mahdi, the 12th and last Shiite imam, who disappeared in the 9th century and will one day reappear to bring justice to the world.

Images of Khamenei and his son, Iran's new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, were displayed on banners and posters held by mourners. Mojtaba Khamenei has yet to make an appearance in the funeral ceremonies, which are unfolding over several days. He is believed to be in hiding after reportedly being wounded in the airstrike that killed his father.

A tanker traveling off the coast of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz caught on fire early Tuesday morning after being struck by a projectile, the British military said.

The attack was the latest targeting a vessel moving through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, through which a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded once passed in peacetime. Iranian state television said the liquefied natural gas tanker came under attack after ignoring warnings but did not directly claim the assault.

Moroccan authorities said on Monday they had arrested 10 people, including a minor, involved in foiled "terrorist plots" across several cities.

The kingdom's Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ) said in a statement carried by state news agency MAP that the suspects were linked to the Islamic State group (IS) in the Sahel region.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday urged the United States not to sell its advanced F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, arguing it would "upset the power balance" in the region.

"I don't think they should be given F-35s or the engines for their fighter jets, because that'll upset the power balance in the Middle East which is ultimately guaranteed by Israeli air superiority and also by, I think, by America's posture in the Middle East," Netanyahu told Fox News morning show "Fox & Friends."

Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas announced Monday the dissolution of the body that has governed the Gaza Strip for nearly two decades, clearing the way for a technocratic committee to implement civilian rule.

"The head of the government's emergency committee Mohammed al-Farra has officially submitted his resignation. He has also decided to dissolve the committee to facilitate the administrative and governmental transition to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG)," Ismail al-Thawabta, head of Hamas' government media office told AFP.

French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Syria soon, Syrian state media said Sunday, making him the first Western leader to arrive in the country since the ouster of former President Bashar Assad in 2024.

Macron hosted Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the former Islamist leader who seized power in Damascus, in Paris in May 2025, and promised that he would push the European Union and the United States to lift crippling sanctions on Syria, most of which have been removed.

Iran began a procession Monday through its capital, Tehran, for the funeral of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Khamenei's flag-draped coffin, and those of his family killed Feb. 28 in an airstrike at the start of the war launched by Israel and the United States, sat on board a truck. Authorities decorated the truck's side to resemble the ornamental grating that surrounds the shrine of an imam.

President Donald Trump plans to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa on Wednesday while attending the NATO summit in Turkey, the White House said. Those discussions will come as Kyiv tries to refocus Trump's attention on the conflict with Moscow and as Trump has publicly mused about Syria's role in the Middle East.

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly confirmed the meetings in a call with reporters while previewing the upcoming summit in Ankara, where Trump also plans to meet with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday. Before returning to the United States on Wednesday, Trump is scheduled to have a news conference, Kelly said.

Representatives of Tehran-backed militant groups attended the funeral ceremonies of slain Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday, with envoys from Hezbollah and Hamas meeting with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, state media reported.

Tehran has for years provided support to Palestinian Hamas, Lebanon's Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthi rebels -- all designated "terrorist" groups by the United States and other Western nations, making Iran the target of international sanctions.