US President Donald Trump threatened on Friday to come to the aid of protesters

One man was killed in Iran on Wednesday night, state television said, the first death reported after days of demonstrations over high inflation that mark the most significant unrest since nationwide protests three years ago.

Airstrikes killed seven people in Yemen yesterday as a Saudi-led coalition attacked UAE-backed separatists who have seized huge swathes of territory, an official for the group.

The latest arrests raised to nearly 600 the total number detained over the past week

Saudi Arabia yesterday warned it would back Yemen’s government in any military confrontation with separatist forces and urged them to withdraw “peacefully” from recently-seized provinces.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will depart for the United States today and meet with President Donald Trump in Florida a day later, an Israeli official told AFP.

UAE-backed separatists accused Saudi Arabia, the main backer of Yemen’s internationally-recognised government, of striking their positions in Hadramawt yesterday, a day after the kingdom urged them to return recently-seized territory.

Saudi Arabia, the main backer of Yemen’s internationally recognised government, said yesterday that Yemeni separatists should return territory seized recently, adding that it seeks to deescalate tensions within the government camp.

Some 115 alleged members of the Islamic State group suspected of planning attacks during the end of year holidays have been arrested in Turkey, Istanbul’s prosecutor general said yesterday.

Iran insisted yesterday that its missile programme was defensive in nature and designed to dissuade attack, while adding the existence of its arsenal was not up for debate.

The United States was joined Saturday by Qatar, Egypt and Turkey in urging parties in the Gaza ceasefire to uphold their obligations and exercise restraint, the chief US envoy said after talks in Miami.

UAE airport authorities cancelled or delayed dozens of flights and roads were flooded in major cities as the heaviest rainstorm in months lashed the desert nation yesterday.

Israel launched several strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon yesterday, Lebanese state media reported, as the Israeli military said “it targeted Hezbollah infrastructure including a military compound”.

The United Nations and aid groups warned on Wednesday that humanitarian operations in the Palestinian territories, particularly Gaza, were at risk of collapse if Israel does not lift impediments that include a “vague, arbitrary, and highly politicized” registration process.

Overnight clashes in Iran’s southern province of Kerman killed at least three security personnel and a civilian, state media reported yesterday.

Israel and Hamas have traded accusations that the other is delaying the second phase of the US-brokered peace plan in Gaza.

An Italian archaeological mission has discovered the remains of a sun temple belonging to an ancient Egyptian king near Cairo, the Egyptian antiquities ministry said on Friday.

Syria’s interior ministry said yesterday the gunman who killed three Americans in the central Palmyra region the previous day was a member of the security forces who was to have been fired for extremism.

A series of Israeli strikes hit south and east Lebanon yesterday, state media reported, as Israel’s army said it was targeting Hezbollah sites, the latest such raids despite a year-old ceasefire.

President Ahmed al-Sharaa warned yesterday that Israel’s demand for a demilitarised zone in southern Syria would endanger his country, as Israeli forces continue to operate in the area.