The body of an Israeli teenager snatched by Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank was returned to his relatives Thursday, following intense talks to avoid an escalation of violence. 

Saudi Arabia's unexpected World Cup victory over giants Argentina triggered a rare moment of joint celebration across the fractured Arab world including among Qataris -- less than two years after a seething regional dispute.

Turkey said Wednesday it was more determined than ever to secure its Syrian border from attacks by Kurdish forces, threatening a ground operation "at the most convenient time."

A Turkish drone strike hit a Kurdish position inside a Russian base in northeastern Syria on Wednesday killing one Kurdish fighter and wounding three, a Kurdish military official told AFP.

At least one person was killed and 14 wounded in two separate explosions targeting bus stops in Jerusalem Wednesday, security and medical officials said, with Israel's public security minister calling them "attacks."

A colonel in Iran's Revolutionary Guards has been killed by an improvised bomb outside the Syrian capital Damascus, Iranian media reported Wednesday, pointing the finger at Israel.

Yemen's Houthi rebels targeted a ship at an oil terminal in the south of the country on Monday, the internationally recognized government said, in the latest in a series of recent attacks that threaten to escalate the conflict after months of relative calm.

The government, which controls the territory where the terminal is located, said in a statement that the strike took place while a commercial ship was in the port of Al-Dabah, near the city of Mukalla, and that it had been carried out by drones. It did not say whether any damage had been sustained or to which nation the vessel belonged.

Russia on Tuesday said it hoped Turkey would exercise "restraint" and refrain from "any excessive use of force" in Syria, where Ankara has carried out air strikes and is threatening to launch a ground offensive against Kurdish fighters.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday threatened to launch a ground operation into Syria after cross-border air strikes on Kurdish positions and deadly fire on Turkey.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Monday that Israeli forces shot and killed a young man near the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

The ministry said in a statement that the man died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Palestinian media identified the man as 18-year-old Mahmoud al-Saadi.