Saudi Arabia hope that the influx of foreign stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar into their club football will help the national team win their first Asian Cup in 28 years.

Saudi Pro League sides have shelled out to lure big-name players while Saudi Arabia is set to host the 2034 World Cup, all part of a broader move into global sport.

With Roberto Mancini, who guided his native Italy to European Championship glory in 2021, now coach, the Saudis start their Asian Cup campaign against Oman on Tuesday.

After years of war, drought and economic crisis, Omar Abdel-Fattah was forced to rent out his farmland in northeast Syria, preferring a more stable job to provide for his family.

"It breaks my heart to see someone else working my land," said Abdel-Fattah, 50, who grew wheat, cotton and vegetables in Jaabar al-Saghir, in Syria's Raqa province, for three decades.

He said he had to abandon agriculture to make ends meet and provide an education for his eight children because he can "no longer keep up with the costs of farming", including irrigation.

Nearly two years after the fire of Yemen's civil conflict had largely been quelled, Manal Faqirah awoke at dawn Friday to the sound of bombs raining on her coastal home city of Hodeida.

"When I heard the first blast, I was terrified, I thought it was a dream," the 36-year-old civil servant told AFP, saying she was awakened from her sleep by the strikes.

"When the second blast came, I knew this was a strike, this was war," she continued, recalling how she curled up underneath her covers at the sound of the third strike.

Thousands of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv late Saturday calling for the release of hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas militants, on the eve of the 100th day of their captivity.

The protests came after families unveiled a replica of the tunnels in the besieged Palestinian territory where their loved ones are believed to have been held since their abduction on October 7.

The crowds carried a massive banner that read: "And the world remains silent," and chanted that the hostages must be released "Now, now, now".

Thousands of pro-Palestine protesters marched in Washington, London and elsewhere on Saturday as part of a "global day of action" to demand an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza fighting and to oppose US and British support for Israel.

In Washington, large crowds waved Palestinian flags as the mostly young protesters -- many wearing the traditional keffiyeh -- gathered in a show of solidarity on the 99th day of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

"Cease-fire now," people chanted, while carrying banners and posters that read "Free Palestine" and "End the War on Gaza."

Nestled in the heart of historic Cairo, a cultural centre synonymous with the Egyptian capital's art scene has been razed, the latest heritage site torn down for contentious development projects.

Authorities have been aggressively remaking parts of Cairo, a longtime cultural beacon of the Arab world, to expand the capital which is home to more than 20 million residents.

The government has built roads and bridges to connect new districts and business hubs, a glitzy makeover as Egypt faces a dire economic crisis.

Surrounded by family and friends, clapping and cheering, Gaza woman Afnan Jibril beams a brilliant smile on her wedding day, determined to celebrate even as war rages.

"We are a people that love life, despite death, murders and destruction," said her father, Mohamed Jibril.

Relatives were gathered on Friday for the wartime wedding in a tiny room at an abandoned school building in the besieged Gaza Strip's southern city of Rafah, near the frontier with Egypt.

The Israel-Hamas war reached a grim milestone of 100 days on Sunday, with more civilian deaths in Gaza, and relatives of dozens of hostages still awaiting their freedom.

There were also casualties in the West Bank, and on the Israel-Lebanon border.

The conflict, sparked by unprecedented attacks on Israel, has created a humanitarian catastrophe for the 2.4 million people in Hamas-ruled Gaza, the United Nations and aid groups warn, and reduced much of the coastal strip to rubble.

Fresh strikes targeted Yemen's Huthis on Saturday, security sources and the US military said, after the Iran-backed rebels warned of further attacks on Red Sea shipping.

The strikes came a day after US and British forces hit scores of targets across the country, heightening fears that Israel's war with Palestinian Hamas militants could engulf the region.

Violence involving Iran-aligned groups in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria has surged since the war in Gaza began in early October.

Recent strikes against Yemen's Huthis are unlikely to end the threat they pose to international shipping, with the Iran-backed rebels having already survived years of heavy aerial bombardment by Gulf states.

US and British forces targeted nearly 30 sites with more than 150 munitions overnight, striking the drone, missile and radar infrastructure the rebels have used to repeatedly attack merchant vessels in the Red Sea in recent weeks.