Diplomats at the United Nations held last-ditch discussions on extending Syrian cross-border aid Sunday, as residents of the country's rebel-held northwest feared life-saving supplies could soon halt.

The lack of an agreement threatens to upend assistance to more than two million people.

The aid delivery mechanism across Turkey's border into rebel-held Syria at the Bab al-Hawa crossing is the only way UN assistance can reach civilians without navigating areas controlled by Syrian government forces.

Expanding joint action to counter Iran will top the agenda during US President Joe Biden's upcoming visit to Israel, Prime Minister Yair Lapid said Sunday, demanding sanctions against Tehran.

The premier urged a "decisive" response to Tehran's nuclear ambitions, ahead of Biden's arrival in Jerusalem on Wednesday.

The visit "will focus first and foremost on the issue of Iran," said Lapid, addressing his second cabinet meeting since taking office on July 1.

A mineral spa in northern Iraq is regaining popularity as renovation work has brought back visitors, in a city once ruled by jihadists who carried out mass executions.

Hisham Khaled often visited the Hamam al-Alil baths as a child with his father but since the facility's restoration he comes alone.

His father, a policeman, was executed near the baths by the Islamic State (IS) group in 2016.

Supporters of prominent Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, who on Sunday will mark 100 days on a hunger strike, are calling on Washington to help secure his release, a statement said.

A major figure in the 2011 revolt that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak, Abdel Fattah was sentenced in December to five years in prison after he was convicted along with two others of "broadcasting false news".

Residents of embattled northwest Syria warned Saturday of a deepening humanitarian crisis following a Russian veto at the UN Security Council that threatens to end cross-border aid deliveries critical to their survival.

Friday's veto of a resolution that would have extended authorisation for UN aid deliveries through the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the Syrian-Turkish border by one year came on the eve of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday.

Residents of embattled northwest Syria warned Saturday of a "catastrophe" following a Russian veto at the UN Security Council that threatens to end cross-border aid deliveries critical to their survival.

Friday's veto of a resolution that would have extended authorisation for UN aid deliveries through the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the Syrian-Turkish border by one year amounted to a "siege and famine policy that Russia resorts to across Syria", charged Mazen Allouch, a border crossing official.

Sudanese protesters celebrated Eid al-Adha among barricades on Saturday during a sit-in against military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his October coup.

Protesters have continued to press the army chief to resign, days after he vowed to make way for a civilian government -- an offer quickly rejected by the country's main civilian umbrella group as a "ruse".

Burhan's surprise move has been met with wide scepticism, and pro-democracy groups announced on Thursday the formation of a "revolutionary council" as protests held firm.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Saturday took part in Eid al-Adha prayers on the second day of his first visit to ex-rebel-stronghold Aleppo in over a decade, state media reported.

Assad began the highly symbolic visit on Friday to Syria's second city, formerly held by rebels and jihadists before it was recaptured in 2016 with crucial Russian backing, marking a major turning point in the country's 11-year war.

"President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday performed Eid al-Adha prayer at Sahabiy Abdallah bin Abbas mosque in Aleppo city," state news agency SANA reported.

Thousands of Muslim pilgrims cast pebbles in the "stoning of the devil" ritual marking the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday Saturday, as a hajj pilgrimage that drew 900,000 visitors began winding down.

Enormous crowds of white-robed worshippers thronged Mina, near Mecca in western Saudi Arabia, for the stoning ritual where each threw seven pebbles at three large concrete walls representing Satan.

Deadly stampedes have previously overshadowed the ritual, the last major act of the hajj, but high temperatures and the ongoing Covid pandemic appeared the biggest immediate risk.

The European Union and Morocco on Friday said they would step up cooperation to combat human smuggling after at least 23 migrants died trying to enter Spain's enclave of Melilla.

They were among around 2,000 migrants, many from Sudan, who tried to break through the border fence last month, according to Moroccan authorities.

It was by far the worst recorded death toll in years of attempted migrant crossings into Spain's Ceuta and Melilla enclaves, which have the EU's only land borders with Africa.