As Egyptians mark the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, they are being treated to a blockbuster TV series that celebrates their army marshall turned president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Fans hail "Al-Ikhtiyar 3" (The Choice 3) for enlightening the masses about Egypt's turbulent recent history. Critics see it as propaganda by a regime that rules with an iron fist.

While the first two seasons paid tribute to soldiers who battle Islamist extremists and to national security agents, the third has the 67-year-old Sisi as its central character.

Israeli air strikes near Damascus on Wednesday killed nine combatants, among them five Syrian soldiers, in the deadliest such raid since the start of 2022, a war monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said an ammunition depot and several positions linked to Iran's military presence in Syria were among the targets.

Government media in Syria confirmed four of the five casualties in the strikes, on which Israel did not comment.

The world's first minister for artificial intelligence says the United Arab Emirates isn't only looking for economic benefits as it seeks to become a leading nation in the sector.

The UAE's minister of state for AI, Omar bin Sultan al-Olama, said "quality of life" considerations were key, and also stressed the importance of a "responsible" rollout -- with impacts potentially reverberating for decades.

"We are looking at AI as a tool," he told AFP in an interview in Dubai. "It's a tool that we need to use to unleash the quality of life aspect."

The United States still believes a return to a nuclear deal is the best path with Iran, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday, amid a prolonged standoff in talks.

Facing criticism of the deal during an appearance before Congress, Blinken called the 2015 agreement imperfect but better than the alternatives.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to fly to Saudi Arabia on Thursday, mending a rift between the Suni powers caused by the murder of Riyadh critic Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom's Istanbul consulate in 2018.

The two-day trip comes on the heels of an Istanbul court's decision to halt the trial in absentia of 26 Saudi suspects linked to the gruesome killing, transferring the case to Saudi Arabia.

The Turkish decision infuriated human rights campaigners and Khashoggi's widow Hatice Cengiz, who tried to appeal it in a higher court.

A veteran Tunisian opposition figure announced Tuesday the creation of a new alliance to "save" the country from deep crisis following President Kais Saied's power grab last year.

Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, 78, a prominent left-wing politician who opposed dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali's rule, said the new National Salvation Front aimed to unite political forces, re-establish constitutional and democratic processes and guarantee freedoms and rights in the country.

"We want a return to legitimacy and democracy," he told a news conference in the capital Tunisia.

Lebanon's government Tuesday tasked the armed forces with investigating how an overpacked migrant boat capsized, a tragedy some survivors have blamed on the military.

At least six people were killed late Saturday in the Mediterranean Sea off the northern port city of Tripoli in the country's deadliest such maritime incident in years.

The circumstances were not entirely clear, with some on board claiming the navy rammed their boat, while officials have insisted the smugglers attempted reckless escape manoeuvres.

A Palestinian was killed Tuesday when Israeli forces stormed a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank in what the army called a "counter-terrorism" operation that sparked violent riots.

The deadly shooting was the latest in a wave of bloodshed in the West Bank and Israel as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish holiday of Passover overlapped this month.

The Palestinian health ministry said 20-year-old Ahmed Ibrahim Oweidat "succumbed to critical wounds sustained by live bullets to the head, at dawn today in Aqabat Jaber camp" near Jericho.

A "No Fishing" sign on the edge of Iraq's western desert is one of the few clues that this was once Sawa Lake, a biodiverse wetland and recreational landmark.

Human activity and climate change have combined to turn the site into a barren wasteland with piles of salt.

Abandoned hotels and tourist facilities here hark back to the 1990s when the salt lake, circled by sandy banks, was in its heyday and popular with newly-weds and families who came to swim and picnic.

But today, the lake near the city of Samawa, south of the capital Baghdad, is completely dry.

Phil Mickelson sparked intrigue about his possible return to golf on Monday after applying for a release to play in the first event of a lucrative Saudi Arabia-backed golf tour in June.

Mickelson's management company confirmed in a statement that the 51-year-old six-time major winner was seeking approval to play in the June 9-11 LIV Golf Invitational outside London -- but stressed he had not yet confirmed his participation.