Yemen's rebels continued their weekslong blockade of a district in the central province of Marib, cutting off humanitarian aid and halting movement of its 37,000 people, officials and U.N. aid workers said.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels have advanced in the district of Abdiya south of the city of Marib in recent weeks, forcing troops of the internationally recognized government to retreat, military officials from both sides said.

The Israeli military on Sunday said it has reprimanded an officer who was found to have used excessive force against protesters in the occupied West Bank, including pushing a 65-year-old Israeli peace activist to the ground.

The army said the officer, a major, had deviated from "the professional norms and standards" expected of him. It said he could not be promoted or attend a commander's course for the next three years.

A fire broke out Monday in Kuwait's largest oil refinery, causing several injuries but no interruptions to site operations or petrol exports.

Plumes of smoke rose above the Mina al-Ahmadi facility, located on the Gulf coast just opposite Iran, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the capital Kuwait City.

Syria's government and opposition in the war-torn country have agreed to start drafting constitutional reforms, the U.N. Syria envoy announced Sunday, a major step after a nine-month hiatus of talks and several fruitless rounds.

U.N. special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen didn't say what was behind the agreement or offer details of what comes next. The drafting sessions formally begin Monday.

The death of a former Syrian Druse lawmaker, allegedly by Israeli sniper fire, could mark a new phase in what Israel calls its war against Iranian entrenchment in neighboring Syria.

Syria's state-run news agency said that Midhat Saleh was fatally shot Saturday in Ein el-Tinneh, a village along the Israeli frontier in the Golan Heights where he ran a Syrian government office. Israeli media said Saleh had been assisting the Iranian military against Israel.

Sweden's foreign minister will make the first official visit to Israel in a decade, the government said Sunday, following seven years of rocky ties after Stockholm recognized Palestine.

The Grand Mosque in the Muslim holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia operated at full capacity Sunday, with worshippers praying shoulder-to-shoulder for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began.

Israel is quietly advancing controversial settlement projects in and around Jerusalem without making major announcements that could anger the Biden administration. Critics say the latest moves, while incremental, pave the way for rapid growth once the political climate changes.

On Wednesday, as Foreign Minister Yair Lapid met with U.S. officials in Washington, a local planning committee in Jerusalem approved the expropriation of public land for the especially controversial Givat Hamatos settlement, which would largely cut the city off from Palestinian communities in the southern West Bank.

A Rome judge halted the trial of four high-ranking members of Egypt's security forces on the day it opened Thursday, saying there was no certainty they had been officially informed that they were charged in the abduction, torture and killing in Cairo of an Italian doctoral student.

Citing the need to guarantee a fair trial, Judge Antonella Capri nullified the decision to prosecute the four and ordered the documentation returned to magistrates who must try again to locate the suspects. Her decision was a blow to prosecutors who have been trying to bring Giulio Regeni's killers to justice for five years.

As a poorly paid public school teacher, Khaled Jaber always needed a side hustle, working as a private tutor and using his car as a taxi to help pay the bills. For unexpected needs, such as medical expenses, he has had to borrow money from relatives.

Somehow, the 44-year-old muddled through life, sustained by his love of teaching high school Arabic and the respect his job earned him in the community.