A flare-up in tensions between the UN nuclear monitor and Iran this week has left US President Joe Biden in an increasingly tight jam.

The US leader opened his presidency with a pledge to return to the 2015 international agreement that aimed to prevent Tehran from building nuclear weapons, after predecessor Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from it.

Negotiations to restore that agreement have been at an impasse for three months over the very last details.

Eight Iranian men convicted of theft are in imminent risk of having their fingers cut off, campaign groups warned on Friday, urging global action to halt the "inhuman" punishment.

All eight men are being held in the Greater Tehran prison waiting for their fingers on one hand to be amputated, the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran (ABC) and Amnesty International said in separate statements.

Three of them had been transferred from Orumiyeh prison in northwestern Iran in May specifically for the amputation, they said.

Over 170,000 people took part in Tel Aviv's Pride parade on Friday, a city spokesperson said, as the annual event inched towards pre-pandemic numbers.

Revellers in colourful outfits celebrated in the sweltering heat, waving rainbow flags and dancing to electronic music as floats slowly drove through the streets of Tel Aviv, seen as a rare oasis of LGBTQ+ tolerance in the region, AFP reporters said.

"It's supposed to be about the fight for LGBT rights, but it's more of a party. So... I enjoy the party," said Liat Shana, 29, wearing a shiny green wig and matching eyebrows.

Somalia has agreed to lift a two-year ban on air shipments of khat from Kenya as part of a new trade deal, a Kenyan minister announced Friday, a further sign of rekindled ties after several years of tensions.

The move comes after Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta attended the inauguration of Somalia's newly elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Thursday, signalling a shift away from the frosty relations under the previous government in Mogadishu.

All flights to and from Syria's capital were halted Friday, the government said, after Israeli air strikes wounded at least one civilian and reportedly caused damage to an airport runway.

Since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes against its neighbour, targeting government troops as well as allied Iran-backed forces and fighters from Lebanon's Hezbollah, but rarely have such attacks caused major flight disruptions.

Israeli citizens will be allowed to travel to Qatar to watch football's 2022 World Cup, despite the absence of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the government said.

World football's governing body "FIFA has confirmed that Israeli citizens will be able to enter Qatar during the World Cup and watch games, just like all fans around the world," a joint statement by Israel's defence, foreign and sports ministries said late Thursday.

A noisy backhoe digs up earth to uncover yet another mass grave in Iraq, human remains are exhumed and the forensics experts get to work on their grim task.

A skull is freed from a layer of clay, a tibia is placed in a body bag -- all bound for a laboratory to be genetically checked against blood samples from relatives of the disappeared.

The site near the central shrine city of Najaf is one of many in a country that suffered through more than four decades of bloody conflict and turmoil.

Even Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who leads an ideologically divided coalition perpetually facing collapse, has voiced doubts about the viability of his eight-party government.

"A year ago, I wasn't sure that it could be done," the religious-nationalist leader told AFP, 12 months after he ended the long reign of right-wing premier Benjamin Netanyahu.

Under the deal he struck with the coalition's architect, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, the two are meant to trade posts halfway through their four-year term.

Men in make-up and wigs twirl on stage in colourful robes to applause in Morocco, resurrecting the musical art of "Aita" and challenging gender stereotypes in the conservative Muslim-majority kingdom.

Members of the all-male "Kabareh Cheikhats" troupe, including singers, actors and dancers, hope their unique performances of an art once dominated by women can revive the tradition.

"This art, based on oral histories, traces its roots back to the 12th century and draws its poetic strength from daily life," said writer and poet Hassan Najmi.

Lebanon should block Israel from extracting gas from a disputed offshore field, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday, warning a hydrocarbon exploration company hired by Israel against proceeding with its activities.

"The immediate objective should be to prevent the enemy from extracting oil and gas from the Karish gas field," part of which is claimed by Lebanon, Nasrallah said in a televised speech.