Despite a rocket attack on Baghdad's Green Zone, Iraqi lawmakers Thursday elected a new president who swiftly named a prime minister in hopes of ending a year of political gridlock and violence in the war-scarred nation.

Abdul Latif Rashid, a 78-year-old Iraqi Kurd, was elected as head of state, replacing Barham Saleh, by the assembly in the capital's heavily fortified Green Zone government and diplomatic district.

Rashid won more than 160 votes against 99 for the incumbent Saleh, an assembly official said.

A US citizen on temporary release from prison in Iran was taken back into custody Wednesday, his family said, in what Washington called a "tremendous setback" after hopes for his permanent freedom.

Siamak Namazi, 51, was returned to Tehran's Evin prison, a day before the seventh anniversary of his detention on espionage charges which he denies.

He was temporarily released a week ago when his father, 85-year-old Baquer Namazi, was permitted to leave the country for medical care.

Thirteen people, mostly fighters, have been killed in two days of ongoing clashes between rival factions competing for power in northwest Syria, a war monitor said Wednesday.

Fighting between two pro-Turkish Syrian rebel groups began in the town of Al-Bab in northern Aleppo province before spreading to other areas and drawing in other factions, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a jihadist group headed by ex-members of Syria's former Al-Qaeda franchise, has also weighed in, it added in a statement.

Israel's agreement with foe Lebanon to demarcate their maritime border makes conflict with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah less likely, the Israeli premier said Wednesday, after his cabinet voiced support for the deal.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Tuesday announced that Israel and Lebanon had reached an "historic" US-brokered agreement, which potentially unlocks significant offshore gas production for the eastern Mediterranean neighbours.

Syria on Wednesday revealed a remarkably intact 1,600-year-old Roman-era mosaic including depictions of warriors in the Trojan War, with authorities hailing it as one of the "rarest" found.

The mosaic is the latest to be found in Rastan in northern Syria's Homs district, which the government seized back from rebels in 2018 after years of bloodshed.

Soldiers carrying swords and shields are seen with the names of Greek leaders who took part in the Trojan War, said Hammam Saad, who heads excavations and archaeological studies at Syria's General Directorate of Museums.

Qatar World Cup organisers on Wednesday warned fans to brace for "congestion" in the first two weeks of the tournament when the peak number of supporters will be packing the Gulf state's capital.

Private cars will be banned from many streets and residents near some stadiums will need permits to get to their homes, organisers and government officials told a press conference as they outlined measures to avoid a World Cup jam.

The tiny state of 2.9 million people will be the smallest to hold the World Cup that starts November 20.

A major exhibition of impressionist art opened Wednesday at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, featuring works from masters such as Cezanne, Degas, Manet, Monet, Pissarro and Renoir.

Billed as one of the most significant exhibitions on the 19th century art movement ever held outside France, it features more than 150 works on loan from the Musee d'Orsay in Paris.

Claude Monet's "Women in the Garden" is among the masterpieces on show from the movement characterised by rapid dabs and brushstrokes that explore the transient effects of light and colour.

Saudi golf coach Faraj Mezhar hit his first shots on a sandy course in neighbouring Qatar three decades ago, an outing that changed his life forever.

After a long stint with the Saudi national team, these days he helps amateurs with their swing and short game, part of a national project to transform the Gulf state into an unlikely golf powerhouse.

Professional golf has this year been roiled by the emergence of LIV Golf, a Saudi-funded breakaway circuit that has lured stars from the US PGA Tour with eye-watering prize money of $25 million per tournament.

Palestinians launched a rare strike in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem Wednesday over a days-long operation by Israeli security forces in a refugee camp after a soldier was shot dead.

Businesses were shuttered in the Old City and along the main commercial street of the city's eastern sector, which is usually bustling with shoppers and traffic.

The strike follows the killing on Saturday of an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint near the Shuafat Palestinian refugee camp, which prompted a massive manhunt for the suspected attacker, who remains on the run.

Gunshots were fired as Iranian security forces confronted protests Wednesday over Mahsa Amini's death in a crackdown that rights groups say has already cost at least 108 lives with many children among the dead.

The crack of gunfire interrupted demonstrators' chants in the cities of Isfahan and Karaj and in Amini's hometown Saqez, in videos shared by two Norway-based human rights organisations.

"Death to the dictator," shouted female students who had defiantly taken off their mandatory hijab headscarves as they marched down a Tehran street, in a video verified by AFP.