Syria's Supreme Constitutional Court has accepted three applications out of 51 for candidacy for this month's presidential elections in the war-torn country, state media reported Monday.

The largely symbolic election is certain to be won by President Bashar Assad, who was chosen along with two other men, Abdullah Salloum Abdullah and Mahmoud Ahmad Marie, to run. Some 51 candidates, including seven women, had applied to be candidates. The Parliament later referred the names to the constitutional court.

Flags were lowered to half mast Sunday as Israel held a national day of mourning for 45 men and boys killed in a stampede at a packed Jewish festival.

More than 600 migrants hoping to reach Europe from Libya have been stopped since Friday, the navy said, as the International Organization for Migration warned Libya was "not a safe port."

Hundreds of Christian worshippers have made use of Israel's easing of coronavirus restrictions, packing a Jerusalem church revered as the site of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection for an ancient fire ceremony a day before Orthodox Easter.

The faithful gathered at The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, waiting for clergymen to emerge with the Holy Fire from the Edicule, a chamber built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was buried and rose from the dead after being crucified.

Eighteen Iraqis, the majority military personnel, were killed overnight Friday to Saturday in separate jihadist attacks mainly in the greater Baghdad area, security sources told AFP.

Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria on Friday handed over 92 Uzbek women and children suspected of family ties to the Islamic State group to an Uzbekistan delegation for repatriation.

Iran has welcomed a "change of tone" from Saudi Arabia that could clear the way to a new era of cooperation between the rival regional powers.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced Friday that elections are being postponed until Israel guarantees voting can take place in annexed east Jerusalem, further delaying polls in a society which last voted in 2006.

A massive stampede at a densely packed Jewish pilgrimage site killed at least 44 people in Israel on Friday, blackening Israel's largest Covid-era gathering.

The Kurdish-ruled region of northeastern Syria will run out of Covid-19 testing equipment in a week, the International Rescue Committee warned Thursday.