Israeli helicopter gunships struck targets Monday in the occupied West Bank as a gunbattle raged in the city of Jenin between Israeli troops and militants, killing four Palestinians, including a 15-year-old boy, officials said.
The violence marked a rare use of Israeli airpower in the territory. During the clashes, Palestinian militants detonated a roadside bomb next to an Israeli military vehicle. At least 45 Palestinians were wounded, five seriously. The Israeli military said seven members of the paramilitary border police and the army suffered light and moderate wounds.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have taken a further step to seal their reconciliation as Riyadh's top diplomat made a landmark visit to the Islamic republic following a seven-year rupture.
Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan held talks with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian focusing on regional security.

In war-torn Syria, parents of teenagers missing in a shipwreck off the Greek coast are clinging onto hope their children might be alive, days after the tragedy.

Turkey has escalated drone attacks on Kurdish-held regions of north and northeast Syria this week, killing 16 people including one civilian in a single day, a war monitor said.
The strikes mostly targeted Kurdish-held Tal Rifaat and Manbij in the country's north near the Turkish border, areas Ankara has repeatedly threatened to attack.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met Friday with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris as part of an official visit, during which he will also participate in a global financing summit aimed at fighting poverty and climate change.
Macron and the prince sat down for a one-to-one working lunch at the Elysee presidential palace.

When fighting in Sudan erupted in mid-April, Abdel-Rahman Sayyed and his family tried to hold out hiding in their home in the capital, Khartoum, as the sounds of explosions, gunfights and the roar of warplanes echoed across the city of 6 million people.
They lived right by one of the fiercest front lines, near the military's headquarters in central Khartoum, where the army and a rival paramilitary, the Rapid Support Forces, battled for control. Three days into the conflict, a shell hit their two-story home, reducing much of it to rubble.

International donors have said they would commit $10.3 billion in aid for millions of Syrians battered by war, poverty, and hunger, both at home and as refugees abroad.
The pledges by 57 nations and 30 international organizations at an annual European Union-hosted conference in Brussels for Syria fell about $800 million short of a United Nations humanitarian appeal.

Qatar and Iraq inked a series of economic and energy deals during a visit to Baghdad by the Qatari emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
The two countries signed a broad agreement to expand "cooperation in politics, economics, energy, and investment," Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a statement.

The Israeli military has admitted that it had shot and killed a Palestinian toddler in the occupied West Bank by mistake earlier this month — a rare acknowledgement of wrongdoing.
After an initial investigation into the killing, the Israeli military said it would reprimand one of the officers involved in the killing. The military said it hadn't yet decided whether to proceed with a criminal investigation into the child's death.

The European Union on Thursday pledged 560 million euros ($600 million) to help countries neighboring Syria cope with the costs of hosting Syrians displaced by the years of conflict in their country.
"Unfortunately, over the last year there has been little progress, very little progress, towards a resolution of the Syria conflict," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said as he announced the pledge at an international donors' conference in Brussels.
