The Jordanian army killed 27 drug smugglers in a clash early Thursday as they tried to enter the kingdom from Syria, it said in a statement.

The Jewish settlement of Homesh, built on privately owned Palestinian land deep inside the occupied West Bank, was dismantled in 2005 and cannot be rebuilt.

At least, that's what Israeli law says.

The Biden administration has approved a massive $2.5 billion arms sale to Egypt despite ongoing concerns over human rights.

The sales were announced just hours after congressional Democrats urged the administration not to release a much smaller package of military assistance that had been put on hold last year pending the Egyptian government meeting certain rights-related conditions.

Iraq's prime minister made a rare visit to the country's border with Syria on Wednesday, to support troops and state that Iraqi forces were capable of resisting the Islamic State group. The visit came after militants staged a number of deadly attacks that stoked fears IS may be staging a comeback.

Mustafa al-Kadhimi was in Ninevah province to inspect security measures and boost morale. Concerns of further IS attacks have been growing since over 100 militants just over the border stormed the largest detention facility in Syria's northeast, seeking to liberate suspected IS members.

U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in Syria said Wednesday they had fully recaptured a prison that was attacked by the Islamic State group, ending the country's biggest jihadist assault in three years.

In a statement, Farhad Shami of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said operations since the attack started last Thursday had "culminated with our entire control" over the prison after all holdout IS fighters surrendered.

President Joe Biden will host the ruling emir of Qatar at the White House on Monday, a visit that comes as U.S. and European allies are scrambling to put together contingency plans to meet Europe's energy needs should supplies be impacted by Russia further invading Ukraine.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden and Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani planned to discuss Middle East security, ensuring the stability of global energy supplies and the situation in Afghanistan, where humanitarian conditions have deteriorated in the aftermath of the U.S. military withdrawal and Taliban takeover last year.

Twice in the past week, Yemen's rebels have launched attacks with missiles and drones on the United Arab Emirates, a major escalation for one of the world's most protracted conflicts.

The attacks underscore how the war that has ground on for over seven years in the corner of the Arabian Peninsula can flare into a regional danger. One of this week's attacks targeted an Emirati military base hosting U.S. and British forces.

Israeli settlers drove through a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank, throwing rocks through the windows of vehicles and businesses and injuring a teenager, a Palestinian official said.

It was the latest in a series of settler attacks in recent months. On Friday, settlers attacked Palestinians and Israeli peace activists in the West Bank and set a car on fire. Last month, a settler was shot and killed by a Palestinian gunman, setting off revenge attacks.

Thailand's prime minister arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for the first high-level meeting since relations between the nations soured three decades ago over a sensational jewelry heist that led to a diplomatic row and string of mysterious killings.

The official visit by Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha to Riyadh signals the nations are seeking to thaw relations, long chilled by the 1989 scandal. Saudi Arabia downgraded its diplomatic ties with Thailand over the theft that became known as the Blue Diamond affair.

Heavy snow and freezing rain have seriously affected about 250,000 displaced Syrians living in camps in the last major opposition stronghold in northwestern Syria, with tents collapsing and children having to walk in the snow in sandals, a senior U.N. humanitarian official said.

"It's a real disaster zone," said Mark Cutts, the U.N. deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis who is in charge of cross-border aid operations from Turkey to the northwest.