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Netanyahu visited UAE, secretly met MBZ during Iran war: Israel’s PM office

JERUSALEM, May 13 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the United Arab Emirates and met with the Emirati president during the war with Iran, a statement from the Prime Minister's Office said on Wednesday.

According to the statement, the meeting resulted in an "historic breakthrough" in relations between Israel and the UAE.

The statement appeared to be the first confirmation of a meeting between Netanyahu and the Emirati president.

FILE PHOTO: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a ceremony commemorating Israel’s Remembrance Day for fallen soldiers, or Yom HaZikaron, at the Military Cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem April 21, 2026.     ILIA YEFIMOVICH/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

UK police plan 'unprecedented' operation to prevent trouble at weekend protests

By Michael Holden

LONDON, May 13 (Reuters) - London police said on Wednesday they would mount an "unprecedented" operation this weekend to prevent violence and serious disorder when two large protests - anti-immigration and pro-Palestinian - take place in the British capital.

At least 80,000 people are expected in London on Saturday for the two demonstrations - a pro-Palestinian march marking Nakba Day and another 'Unite the Kingdom' rally organised by the anti-Islam activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known by his pseudonym Tommy Robinson.

FILE PHOTO: Police officers and a crew of an RNLI lifeboat patrol the River Thames on the day of a static protest to mark Al-Quds Day in support of the Palestinian people organised by the Islamic Human Rights Commission and a counter-protest, in London, Britain, March 15, 2026. REUTERS/Toby Shepheard/File Photo

Exclusive-Saudi warplanes struck militias in Iraq during war, sources say

By Timour Azhari, Ahmed Rasheed and Humeyra Pamuk

RIYADH/BAGHDAD/WASHINGTON, May 13 (Reuters) - Saudi fighter jets bombed targets linked to powerful Tehran-backed Shi'ite militias in Iraq during the Iran war, while retaliatory strikes were also launched from Kuwait into Iraq, multiple sources familiar with the matter said.

The strikes are part of a broader pattern of military responses around the Gulf that remained largely hidden during a conflict that has drawn in the wider Middle East since joint Israeli-U.S. strikes on Iran on February 28.

A satellite view of smoke billowing at a Saudi Aramco oil facility after a reported attack, following the announcement of a two-week ceasefire in the Iran war, in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia April 8, 2026.   European Union/Copernicus Sentinel-2/Handout via REUTERS

Iran frees prominent rights lawyer Sotoudeh on bail - reports

DUBAI, May 13 (Reuters) - Iran has released on bail prominent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who was arrested in early April in a crackdown during the conflict with the United States and Israel, Iranian news agencies and her daughter said on Wednesday.

Nournews, affiliated with Iran's top security body, said Sotoudeh was freed on bail, without referring to any charges she might still face. Mehraveh Khandan, Sotoudeh's daughter, confirmed her mother's release in a post on social media.

FILE PHOTO: The image of human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh (Iran) appears on screen as she receives the 2020 Right Livelihood Award during the digital award ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden December 3, 2020. Anders Wiklund/TT News Agency/via REUTERS /File Photo

Tunisian tourism slows in fallout of Mideast war

In Tunisia, May usually heralds the start of the summer tourism boom, but as the Middle East war wreaks havoc on the region, the season is opening on uneasy footing.

Industry officials blame the fallout from the conflict, which has sent oil prices and travel costs skyrocketing, even thousands of miles away in Tunisia's idyllic island of Djerba.

Anane Kamoun, director of the Royal Garden Palace hotel on the island, said reservations have fallen by about half this year at his establishment.

Tunisia's island of Djerba is usually gearing up for the start of a booming summer season in May, but the Middle East conflict has dampened tourism hopes

Factbox-How has the Iran war affected Middle East states?

LONDON, May 13 - The war that began on February 28 with a massive Israeli-U.S. bombing campaign against Iran has rocked the entire Middle East, wreaking damage to infrastructure and economies and overturning settled assumptions about regional security.

On a second major front, Israel launched a ground invasion and bombing campaign of Lebanon in March in pursuit of Hezbollah fighters after the armed group fired across the border in solidarity with Iran.

This is how some countries have been impacted:

IRAN

A cleric walks near a residential building damaged by a strike on March 4, in Tehran, Iran, April 14, 2026. REUTERS/Thaier Al Sudani/File Photo

War in Middle East: latest developments

Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war:

- Vessel taken near Hormuz -

A ship off the UAE coast near the Strait of Hormuz has been taken by unknown people and is now headed towards Iran, a UK maritime agency said.

The vessel was "taken by unauthorised personnel whilst at anchor" 38 nautical miles northeast of Fujairah, and "is now bound for Iranian territorial waters", according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre.

- Trump, Xi discuss Mideast -

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Deir El Zahrani

Analysis-Iran war brings Turkey-PKK peace process to near standstill

By Jonathan Spicer and Ahmed Rasheed

ANKARA/BAGHDAD, May 13 (Reuters) - Just two weeks after Turkey's parliament made recommendations on how to advance the country's peace process with Kurdish militants, the Iran war broke out, plunging the Middle East into fresh instability and bringing new doubts on both sides.

Turkey has warned of the risk of new Kurdish mobilisations in Iran and Iraq and, according to a government official, played a key role in quashing a short-lived U.S.-Israeli idea to back a Kurdish militant ground invasion of Iran from Iraq.

FILE PHOTO: A fighter with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rides a motorcycle past flags in the Qandil mountains, Iraq, October 26, 2025. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani/File Photo

Explainer-What's at stake in Turkey's bid to end conflict with PKK militants?

ANKARA, May 13 (Reuters) - Turkey's attempt to finish its decades-old conflict with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militant group has stalled, with both sides waiting for the other to act in a peace bid complicated by the Iran war.

The apparent stalemate has held up a resolution to one of the world's longest-running conflicts, which has killed more than 40,000 people since 1984, exacted a huge economic cost and sowed political and social divisions in Turkey.

Here are key questions about the insurgency and the current stalled process.

WHAT IS THE CONFLICT ABOUT?

FILE PHOTO: Weapons placed by PKK fighters are burnt during a disarming ceremony in Sulaimaniya, Iraq, July 11, 2025, in this screengrab obtained from a handout video. KURDISTAN WORKERS PARTY MEDIA OFFICE/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo