The latest developments in the Middle East war:

- Iran FM to meet Putin -

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Saint Petersburg early on Monday and is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian and Iranian state media reported.

The expected meeting comes off the back of whirlwind visits to Islamabad, Muscat and Islamabad again in recent days.

- Israeli soldier killed -

The Israeli army said one of its troops was killed "during combat" in south Lebanon, where a ceasefire has been in place since mid-April.

A Syrian court conducted the first hearing Sunday in the trial of ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad and senior figures from his government, one of whom appeared in person.

Assad and his brother Maher have fled Syria and will be tried in absentia, but one of their relatives, former security official Atif Najib, was in the dock in handcuffs.

"Today we begin the first trials of transitional justice in Syria," judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan declared as he opened the session.

ROME, April 26 (Reuters) - Pope Leo on Sunday described those who wage wars and appropriate the earth's resources as thieves who rob the world of a peaceful future, issuing a warning about the use of nuclear power on the anniversary of the Chornobyl reactor accident.

Ukraine is commemorating the 40th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear disaster on Sunday amid lingering fears that Russia's four-year-old war could spark a repeat of the tragedy.

JERUSALEM, April 26 (Reuters) - Israel's president said on Sunday that he will consider Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's pardon request in his long-running corruption trial only after efforts to reach a plea deal are exhausted, signalling no decision will come soon.

Netanyahu's legal troubles, which began with investigations around a decade ago, have polarised Israelis and shaken national politics through five rounds of elections between 2019, the year of his indictment, to 2022. The next ballot is due by the end of October 2026.

April 26 (Reuters) - Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi held talks in Oman on Sunday and discussed security in the Strait of Hormuz and broader Gulf waters and diplomatic efforts to end the Iran-U.S. conflict, according to an Iranian foreign ministry statement.

In talks in Muscat with Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said, Araqchi said the U.S. military presence in the Middle East was fuelling insecurity and division and called for a regional security framework free of outside interference.

(Reporting by Dubai NewsroomEditing by Ros Russell)

Yusra Qwaider is 97 years old, bedridden and helpless: within days, bulldozers from the Jerusalem municipality will come to tear down the home she has lived in for over 50 years.

If the demolition in the Al-Bustan neighbourhood goes ahead, it will be the third time she has lost her home -- this time to make way for an archaeology and tourism park in the Silwan area just outside the Old City.

"I don't know what to do... I want to stay in my home," she told AFP from her bed in the house where she lives with 12 family members that the municipality says is illegal.

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) - An Egyptian family which was released from more than 10 months of immigration detention this week following court orders was taken into custody again by federal authorities on Saturday, lawyers said.

Hayam El Gamal and her five children aged 5 to 18 were detained less than 48 hours after a federal judge had ordered their release, the family's legal team said in a statement.

By Saad Sayeed, Ariba Shahid and Steve Holland

ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) - Hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran receded as a new week began, with talks aimed at ending the two-month conflict at a standstill and both Tehran and Washington showing little willingness to soften their terms.

April 25 (Reuters) - Israel said on Saturday it would attack Hezbollah targets forcefully, further testing a fragile ceasefire with Lebanon that U.S. President Donald Trump recently said had been extended by three weeks.

Four people were killed on Saturday in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, Lebanon's state news agency reported, while the Israeli military said Hezbollah had fired rockets at Israel, posing the latest challenges to the tenuous ceasefire.

By Max Hunder and Serhiy Chalyi

DNIPRO/KYIV, April 25 (Reuters) - Russian forces pounded the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Saturday in waves of attacks with drones and missiles that also hit other regions, killing 10 people and injuring dozens.

Dnipro was subjected to three separate attacks overnight and during the day.

Regional Governor Oleksandr Hanzha said eight people were killed and 49 injured in the city, a repeated target in more than four years of war with Russia.