Israeli jets bombed several areas in southern Syria and near Damascus on Thursday drawing retaliatory fire from the ground, a monitoring group said.

Iraq's judiciary on Thursday sentenced a former trade minister and two other high-ranking officials in absentia to seven years in prison each on charges of corruption.

U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock appealed Thursday for a halt to fighting in Yemen amid intense diplomacy to end a war that has pushed millions to the brink of famine.

The United Nations envoy on Syria signed off from his posting Thursday ruing "a missed opportunity" to help end the country's long conflict at talks in Kazakhstan's capital Astana.

Two top officials from the administration of President Donald Trump sought Wednesday to persuade U.S. lawmakers to maintain America's increasingly contentious backing of Saudi Arabia in the war in Yemen, arguing that pulling back would worsen the brutal conflict.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis appeared before the Senate ahead of a planned vote on reducing military assistance to Riyadh, which has been blamed for high civilian death rates in Yemen strikes and is facing global ire over the death of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock will travel to Yemen this week amid intense diplomacy to end a war that has pushed millions to the brink of famine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, a Kremlin aide said Wednesday.

British International Trade Secretary Liam Fox met Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday as his country prepares to leave the European Union and pursue an independent trade policy.

The Islamic State group has fiercely defended its last holdout in eastern Syria against a more than two-month military offensive by a Kurdish-Arab alliance backed by a U.S.-led coalition.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in Buenos Aires on Wednesday to join a Group of 20 summit, shrugging off the lingering stigma of journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder.