The top U.S. Air Force general in the Middle East has warned that Iran-backed militias could resume attacks in the region against the United States and its allies as tensions rise — assaults that could lead to a new Mideast escalation.

Speaking to journalists before stepping into his new role at al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, with responsibility for military operations in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and across the region, Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich also expressed fears over Russian and Chinese influence taking hold as superpowers vie for economic and military influence in the Middle East.

A Saudi who allegedly helped a non-Muslim enter the holy city of Mecca has been arrested, police in the kingdom said on Friday, after online backlash against an Israeli journalist.

The journalist, Gil Tamary of Israel's Channel 13, on Monday posted to Twitter video of himself sneaking into Mecca, Islam's holiest city, in defiance of a ban on non-Muslims.

Israel's prime minister has said he would send a delegation to Moscow in hopes of halting a Russian order to shutter the operations of a major nonprofit organization that promotes Jewish immigration to Israel.

Yair Lapid's decision came after a spokeswoman for a Moscow District Court was quoted as saying that Russia's Justice Ministry aims to "shut down" the Russian branch of the Jewish Agency. A court hearing in the case is scheduled for July 28.

Hundreds of angry Iraqis took to the streets late Thursday to decry deadly strikes on an Iraqi tourist resort the previous day that the government has blamed on Turkey. The protests erupted just hours after the families of those killed in the shelling buried their loved ones.

Turkey's foreign minister rejected accusations that his country's military carried out Wednesday's attack on the district of Zakho in Iraq's semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region. At least eight Iraqis were killed, including a child, and 20 were wounded.

Turkey has renewed its threats of a new military offensive against Syria's Kurds, but what can it do after failing to secure the green light of Russia and Iran?

Turkey's foreign minister on Thursday rejected accusations that the country's military carried out deadly artillery strikes against tourists in northern Iraq, as the Iraqi families of those killed laid their dead to rest.

In an in an interview with Turkish state broadcaster TRT, Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey was willing to cooperate with Iraqi authorities to shed light on the "treacherous attack."

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu testified on Thursday that he bears no responsibility for the safety gaps that led to a deadly stampede that killed 45 people last year.

The incident, which was the worst civilian disaster in the country's history, took place on Mount Meron in northern Israel during a Jewish festival in April 2021. Around 100,000 worshipers, mostly ultra-Orthodox Jews, attended festivities despite coronavirus regulations limiting outdoor assemblies to 500 people, and in spite of longstanding warnings about the safety of the site.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi declared a day of national mourning Thursday after nine holidaymakers were killed in the bombardment of a Kurdish hill village he blamed on neighboring Turkey.

The bodies were to be flown to Baghdad from the Kurdish regional capital Arbil to be handed over to the families for burial in their hometowns in southern and central Iraq, a Kurdish official said.

Turkey warned on Thursday that it did not need anyone's permission to conduct a new military offensive against suspected Kurdish militants in Syria.

The comments from Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu came two days after a summit in Tehran at which both Russia and Iran urged against Turkey's proposed new campaign in northern Syria.

Sitting outside her tent in a camp in eastern Lebanon, a 30-year-old Syrian refugee contemplated the sunset and her worsening options.

Umm Jawad fled to Lebanon in 2011 to escape a Syrian government siege of her hometown of Homs. She managed to survive over the past decade, despite Lebanon's devastating economic meltdown and souring attitudes toward Syrian refugees.