In a neighborhood of Iraq's capital, a gigantic poster of Vladimir Putin with the words, "We support Russia," was up for few hours before a security force arrived and hurriedly took it down. Then came the security directive: All public displays of Putin's pictures shall be banned.

Such wrangling shows the deep divisions over the Ukraine war in the Middle East, where Moscow has embedded itself as a key player in recent years, making powerful friends among state and non-state actors while America's influence waned.

With his surprise visit to Moscow on Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is assuming the unlikely role of mediator between Russia and Ukraine.

Bennett, who has helmed the country for less than a year and is largely untested on the world stage, positioned Israel in an uncomfortable middle ground between Russia and Ukraine in the lead up to the war, creating a launching pad from which to emerge as a player in diplomatic efforts.

Russia is recruiting Syrian fighters experienced in urban combat as it ramps up its assault on Ukraine, according to U.S. officials quoted by the Wall Street Journal. 

Moscow, which launched an invasion into its Eastern European neighbor on February 24, has in recent days recruited fighters from Syria hoping they can help take Kyiv, four U.S. officials told the U.S. daily. 

Fifteen soldiers have died in an Islamic State group attack on an army bus in the central Syrian desert, a war monitor said, as state media reported a "terrorist attack".

Despite the fall of IS's "caliphate" in 2019, the group continues to launch deadly attacks from hideouts in the Syrian desert, which extends from the outskirts of the capital Damascus to the Iraqi border.

Israeli missile strikes killed at least two civilians before dawn on Monday near the Syrian capital Damascus, state media reported.

Israel carried out the strikes at around 5:00 a.m. (0300 GMT), hitting positions south of the capital, Syria's official SANA news agency said, citing a military source.

The Iraqi parliament on Saturday reopened registration for candidates to run for president, a contest already behind schedule following last October's general election.

A senior U.S. diplomat apologized Friday to thousands of Afghans stranded in the United Arab Emirates months after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, promising to speed repatriation for some to America while acknowledging that authorities still do not know who some of them are.

The visit comes as America still struggles with how to handle the tens of thousands who piled into planes in the hectic final days of Afghanistan's U.S.-backed government, capping the end of a 20-year experiment in replacing hard-line Taliban rule with a nascent democracy.

The U.N.'s top official for Libya on Friday urged the country's divided factions to refrain from violence and agree on a framework for the future. Libya is being pulled apart again, with two rival governments claiming power after tentative steps towards unity in the past year following a decade of civil war.

Stephanie Williams, the U.N. special adviser on Libya, invited lawmakers to appoint 12 members to a committee that will work to overcome the political deadlock.

When Russia launched its war on Ukraine, a Syrian student in the city of Kharkiv joined the exodus of people fleeing the onslaught. It was the third time that 24-year-old Orwa Staif, who grew up in the suburbs of Damascus, was being displaced by war and crises.

For Staif, it was a jarring déjà vu: columns of people, many on foot, carrying what few belongings they could, desperate to escape bombs and missiles. He had seen it all before, in his native Syria.

Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown price and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman has said that the kingdom does not look at Israel as an “enemy,” as he called for “coexistence” between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

“For us, we hope that the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians is solved. We don't look at Israel as an enemy, we look to them as a potential ally, with many interests that we can pursue together. But we have to solve some issues before we get to that,” Bin Salman said in an interview with U.S. magazine The Atlantic, according to an English-language transcript published by the official Saudi news agency SPA.