Waking at dawn on Sunday to explosions and sirens, Abigail Levy checked the news and quickly understood there had been "an escalation" of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

She stepped outside to find the Israeli port city of Haifa in a "very sad" state after the military announced it had carried out air strikes in Lebanon to thwart a large-scale attack by the Iran-backed militants.

"There was no one outside. Everything was closed, whereas usually there would be a lot of people and activity here," she said.

More than 21 million Shiite Muslims took part in the Arbaeen pilgrimage in Iraq this year, which reached its peak on Sunday with attendees displaying their support for Gaza.

Arbaeen, which means forty in Arabic, marks the 40th day of mourning for the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed and a founding figure in Shiite Islam.

It is one of the world's biggest religious gatherings and a major event for Shiites, who are the majority in Iraq and Iran.

US rapper Macklemore has announced he is cancelling an upcoming show in Dubai over the UAE's involvement in the conflict in Sudan, charges the Gulf state has denied.

The rapper best known for hits like 2012's "Thrift Shop" made the announcement in a post on social media on Saturday.

"I have decided to cancel my upcoming show in Dubai this October," he said.

"Over the last several months I've had a number of people reach out to me, sharing resources and asking me to cancel the show in solidarity with the people of Sudan," he said.

Dozens of passengers at Lebanon's only international airport were anxiously checking announcement boards Sunday as more flights to the capital were cancelled or delayed amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

Beirut International Airport was functioning but many passengers were stuck as major airlines announced flight suspensions, after Israel and Hezbollah announced broad strikes in an escalation of cross-border hostilities.

In a run-down north Syria camp, children displaced by the country's 13-year war played and splashed in volunteer-run mobile swimming pools that provided much-needed relief from the sweltering summer heat.

Volunteers from the Smile Younited charity barely had any time to finish setting up the three pools in a busy square surrounded by tents before children of all ages jumped in, dancing along to songs blasted on loudspeakers.

French judicial authorities on Sunday extended the detention of the Russian-born founder and chief of Telegram Pavel Durov after his arrest at a Paris airport over alleged offences related to the popular but controversial messaging app.

His arrest at the Le Bourget airport outside Paris late Saturday is the latest extraordinary twist in the career of one of the world's most influential tech icons.

Israel launched air strikes into Lebanon on Sunday, saying it destroyed "thousands" of Hezbollah rocket launchers and thwarted a major attack, while the Lebanese group insisted it had been able to deliver a drone and rocket barrage of its own.

The result was perhaps the biggest exchange of fire in 10 months of a war which began with a Hamas attack launched from Gaza and has triggered both new violence on the Lebanon-Israel border and fears of a broader conflagration in the Middle East.

In key US swing state Michigan, Democratic voters of Arab and Middle Eastern heritage say Kamala Harris is going to have to win them back, after they were alienated by President Joe Biden's handling of Israel's military offensive in Gaza.

The town of Dearborn, home to 110,000 people and a cultural hub for Arab Americans, could play a decisive role in deciding the fate of the battleground state in November's presidential election.

On the deserted border between Lebanon and Israel, Spanish UN peacekeepers have for more than 10 months effectively been caught in a war zone.

Several Blue Helmets have been wounded in the crossfire between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, which has also left dozens of Lebanese civilians dead in fallout from the war between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza.

"Sometimes we need to shelter because of the shelling... sometimes even inside the bunkers," said Alvaro Gonzalez Gavalda, a Blue Helmet at Base 964 of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Negotiators geared up for a crucial weekend of Gaza ceasefire talks Saturday, as Hamas said it was sending delegates to Cairo but would not participate in the discussions, and fighting raged in the Palestinian territory.

The United States, Egypt and Qatar have spent months trying to broker an end to the war in Gaza between Hamas Palestinian militants and Israel.

The war, sparked by Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, has devastated Gaza, displaced nearly all of its population at least once and triggered a humanitarian crisis.