The foreign ministers of Iran and Syria, two allies of Russia, discussed the war in Ukraine and other developments during a meeting in Damascus on Wednesday. Syria's top diplomat said Moscow is defending its people.

Faisal Mekdad spoke to reporters in Damascus after his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amirabdollahian, held talks with President Bashar Assad, Mekdad and top security official Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk.

At least four Israelis were killed Tuesday in a stabbing attack outside a shopping center and a gas station in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, Al-Jazeera TV reported.

The TV network added that the attacker was also killed in the incident.

Three Israelis detained by Russian troops in Ukraine have been freed, the head of the Ukrainian journalists union said Tuesday.

Kurdish security forces in northeastern Syria said Tuesday they had seized more than two million captagon pills smuggled in from surrounding rebel-held areas, their biggest such bust to date.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hosted talks Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and the UAE's de facto ruler, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, his office said.

The meeting, which took place in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, included discussions on "energy, market stability, and food security," Egyptian presidency spokesman Bassam Radi said.

With the world focused on Ukraine, U.N. mediators are trying to avoid a political crisis degenerating into new violence in Libya, where Russia has long been a major player.  

The war-battered North African country found itself with two governments earlier this month after the eastern-based House of Representatives appointed ex-interior minister Fathi Bashagha in a challenge to the Tripoli-based premier, Abdulhamid Dbeibah.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett held talks Monday in Cairo with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi after arriving in the country on a previously unannounced visit, Israeli and Arab media reports said.

Israeli media reports meanwhile said that Bennett will also hold a tripartite summit with al-Sisi and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed.

A head-on collision between two passenger trains injured 95 people Monday in the south of the Tunisian capital, emergency services said.

Three Israelis have been given suspended prison sentences in Romania after being convicted of trying to intimidate the country's former top corruption prosecutor.

Saudi Arabia said on Monday that it "won't bear any responsibility" for a shortage in global oil supplies after a fierce barrage of attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels affected production in the kingdom, the world's largest oil exporter.

The unusually stark warning marked a departure from the giant oil producer's typically cautious statements, as Saudi officials remain aware that even their smallest comments can swing the price of oil and rattle global markets.