After narrowly escaping Israeli air strikes, Lebanese mother Tanaz Agha shared a picture taken from her plane window as she flew out of Beirut.

"Proud to be a Lebanese who can travel on my national airline in a time of war," the 46-year-old says she told her friends on social media.

As Israel ramped up air strikes against Lebanese armed group Hezbollah two weeks ago, most airlines stopped flying to the country.

National carrier Middle East Airlines (MEA) remains the only carrier still serving Beirut despite the mounting risks and past hits on the runways.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Albania Thursday on the first stop of a Balkan tour that will also take him to Serbia as he tries to boost ties with a region once ruled by the Ottoman empire.

Erdogan will inaugurate the Great Mosque of Tirana, the largest mosque in the Balkans, which has been paid for by Turkey.

Some 600 Turkish companies employ more than 15,000 people in Albania, Erodgan said in February when he hosted Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.

Israel's main international ally the United States warned Wednesday against Gaza-like military action in Lebanon after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened it with "destruction" similar to that of the Palestinian territory.

But armed forces chief Herzi Halevi vowed to keep up Israel's intensive bombing of Hezbollah targets, which has already killed more than 1,200 people since September 23, "without allowing them any respite or recovery".

With parched crops on one side and lush green plants on the other, a small farming project in northwest Tunisia demonstrates how foreign funding coupled with dogged local efforts can help tackle the impact of climate change.

A local dam built by woman farmer Saida Zouaoui in the village of Ghardimaou after years of effort has turned her into a local hero for her fellow smallholders, who say it helped increase their production despite a six-year drought.

Beyond the complex byways of international finance, a simple solution is gaining ground to protect populations caught in the path of destructive extreme weather: transfer a little money via their mobile phones before disaster strikes.

Faced with a flood, superstorm or mega-fire, "the earlier you get the money, the better", Ranil Dissanayake, a researcher at the Center for Global Development, told AFP. "Recipients can use the cash to prepare dwellings, stockpile food, or temporarily move to areas expected to be unaffected."

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has postponed a trip to the United States scheduled for this week, delaying a planned meeting with his US counterpart Lloyd Austin, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

"We were just informed that Minister Gallant will be postponing his trip to Washington, DC. Secretary Austin looks forward to seeing him soon," Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told journalists, without providing a reason for the cancellation.

The Syrian government said seven civilians were killed in an Israeli air strike in Damascus Tuesday, that a war monitor said targeted a building used by Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

The defence ministry said women and children were among the dead in the strike on a residential and commercial building in the Mazzeh neighbourhood of the capital which is home to embassies and security headquarters.

It said the toll was preliminary as rescuers were still combing the rubble.

Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler reassured the cabinet on Tuesday about the health of his ageing father King Salman, who was set to undergo another round of tests for a lung infection.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 39, "reassured everyone about the health" of King Salman, 88, and voiced "appreciation to everyone who inquired about his health", the official Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday after Prince Mohammed chaired the weekly cabinet meeting.

Beirut has received "assurances" that Israel will not target the country's only international airport, Lebanon's transport minister told AFP, but said those fell short of guarantees.

Since September 23, Israel has launched an intense air campaign mainly targeting Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon including Beirut's southern suburbs, adjacent to the airport.

On Monday, the United States warned Israel not to attack the Beirut airport or the roads leading to it, after repeated Israeli strikes near the facility.

A billion-dollar binge which brought some of football's biggest names to Saudi Arabia's modest league has given way to a more cautious phase, with spending down dramatically this year.

After a jaw-dropping 2023, when Cristiano Ronaldo led a parade of largely ageing superstars to the oil-rich, conservative monarchy, Saudi transfer spending slumped from $957 million to $431 million in the latest window.