Lebanon said Saturday it received a letter from US envoy Amos Hochstein containing an "offer" on a maritime border deal with Israel that could settle competing claims over offshore gas fields.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati met with US ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea "who delivered a written offer from the US mediator", the premier's office said, without elaborating.

President Michel Aoun also met with Shea "who handed him a written letter... containing proposals regarding the demarcation of the southern maritime border," Aoun's office said.

Scuffles broke out between protesters and security forces injuring dozens as thousands gathered Saturday in Iraqi cities to mark three years since nationwide demonstrations erupted against endemic corruption.

The latest protests come as Iraq has been mired in political paralysis since elections in October last year that have failed to bring in a new president, prime minister or government.

Scuffles broke out between protesters and security forces injuring dozens as thousands gathered Saturday in Iraq's capital to mark three years since nationwide demonstrations erupted against endemic corruption.

The latest protests in Baghdad come as Iraq has been mired in political paralysis since elections in October last year that have failed to bring in a new president, prime minister or government.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's new title of prime minister, announced this week, could prove more significant abroad than inside the kingdom where he already wields enormous power.

The appointment by royal decree comes as the administration of US President Joe Biden is debating whether Prince Mohammed qualifies for immunity from lawsuits filed in American courts.

Gaza teenager Bissam says she has trouble sleeping and concentrating as the buzzing sound of Israeli military drones above the crowded Palestinian enclave drives her to distraction.

When she is at home in the cramped family apartment, the 18-year-old said she feels that "the drone is constantly with me in my bedroom -- worry and fear don't leave our homes.

"Sometimes I have to put the pillow on my head so I don't hear its buzz," she said, adding that the drone noise gives her headaches.

When Iranian strikes came crashing on northern Iraq's Kurdistan region, nurse Rezane Hassan rushed to the scene to help the victims, never imagining that her own fiance would be one of them.

"We left in an ambulance towards the affected sites," said the 22-year-old nurse, who works at a hospital in a refugee neighbourhood of the Iraqi city of Koysinjaq, where Iranian Kurds have lived for decades.

"We evacuated women and children to get them away from the bombed areas."

A seven-year-old Palestinian boy who died on the sidelines of an Israeli army search in the occupied West Bank was buried Friday, with Washington calling for a "thorough" investigation into his death.

Rayan Yasser Suleiman's body was wrapped in a keffiyeh chequered Palestinian headscarf, as hundreds of people took part in a funeral procession through his hometown of Tuqu near Bethlehem.

According to an account from the boy's cousin, Mohammed Suleiman, Rayan had "run and fallen" Thursday after returning from school to find soldiers inside and outside his home.

Iran said Friday that nine foreigners were arrested over deadly street protests sparked by the death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, as demonstrations across the country entered a third week amid gunfire.

Dozens have been killed in a crackdown on the protests that erupted when Amini, 22, died in custody three days after her arrest by the notorious morality police in Tehran for allegedly breaching the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women.

On Friday, Iranian security forces opened fire on angry protesters, foreign-based opposition media reported.

As a ceasefire deadline in war-ravaged Yemen draws near, civilians hope the truce will be extended -- fearing any fresh fighting would wipe out the small gains they have made.

In the rebel-held capital Sanaa, agriculture graduate Loujain al-Ouazir has been working to raise goats and poultry for three years on a farm on top of one the ancient city's iconic mud brick tower houses.

Ouazir only managed to make the farm successful in recent months as the truce allowed goods to flow more freely and cut the price of supplies.

The United States said Thursday that one of its citizens was killed in Iranian strikes on Iraqi Kurdistan as it separately announced fresh enforcement of sanctions on Tehran's oil sales.

Iran's clerical state on Thursday carried out cross-border strikes, with 13 reported dead, amid unrest at home sparked by the death in custody of an Iranian Kurdish woman by the notorious morality police.

"We can confirm that a US citizen was killed as a result of a rocket attack in the Iraqi Kurdistan region" on Thursday, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said.