International donors pledged 6.9 billion euros ($7.7 billion) to face the ongoing humanitarian challenges of the nine-year Syrian crisis, the EU announced on Tuesday.

Donors from around 60 countries and international agencies are meeting Tuesday to drum up financial aid for Syria as the coronavirus and economic chaos wreak even more havoc in a country shattered by a conflict now in its 10th year.

The war has killed more than 400,000 people and sparked a refugee exodus that has destabilized Syria's neighbors and impacted Europe. Around 11 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, and some 9 million don't have enough to eat. More than half of the population have no jobs.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss the Syrian conflict on Wednesday with the leaders of Turkey and Iran, the Kremlin said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday he would be "risking the future" of his regime if he allowed Iran to be entrenched militarily in his country.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears determined to carry out his pledge to begin annexing parts of the occupied West Bank, possibly as soon as Wednesday.

His vision of redrawing the map of the Holy Land, in line with President Donald Trump's Mideast plan, has been welcomed by Israel's religious and nationalist right wing and condemned by the Palestinians and the international community.

Unpaid salaries, mask shortages, threats from patients' families -- doctors across Iraq are cracking under such conditions, just as they face a long-feared spike in coronavirus cases.

Israeli defense minister and alternate premier Benny Gantz said Monday that any annexation of West Bank territory must wait until the coronavirus crisis has been contained. 

Syria's government has announced the termination of duty free contracts with companies affiliated with President Bashar al-Assad's billionaire cousin Rami Makhlouf as part of an ongoing spat between the two men.

Leading aid groups called Monday for increased access and funding for millions of Syrians at risk of starvation, on the eve of a key conference in Brussels. 

Israel's aim to annex parts of the occupied West Bank was clearly "illegal", the UN's human rights chief said on Monday, warning that the consequences could be "disastrous".