OTTAWA, Dec 5 (Reuters) - The Canadian government said on Friday that it has removed Syria from its list of foreign state supporters of terrorism and removed Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the group that spearheaded the rebel alliance that helped oust President Bashar al-Assad, from its list of terrorist entities.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Friday told a United Nations Security Council delegation his country does not want war with Israel, days after civilian representatives from both sides held their first talks in decades.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem, whose militant group refuses to disarm, on Friday backed Lebanon's pursuit of diplomacy but called the inclusion of a civilian representative in talks with Israel a "misstep".
A treasure trove of 225 funerary figurines have been discovered inside a tomb in the ancient Egyptian capital of Tanis in the Nile Delta, a rare find that has also solved a long-running mystery.
"Finding figurines in place inside a royal tomb has not happened in the Tanis necropolis since 1946," French egyptologist Frederic Payraudeau told reporters in Paris on Friday.
The Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry said that Israeli forces killed a man in the northern occupied West Bank on Friday.
"Bahaa Abdel-Rahman Rashid (38 years old) was killed by Israeli fire in the town of Odala, south of Nablus," the health ministry said in a statement.
Shortly before, the Palestinian Red Crescent said its teams handled the case of a man "who suffered a critical head injury during clashes in the town of Odala near Nablus, and CPR is currently being performed on him".
By Olivia Le Poidevin, Johnny Cotton and Cecile Mantovani
GENEVA, Dec 5 (Reuters) - The Eurovision Song Contest was facing a potential budget squeeze after Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland and Slovenia said they would withdraw from next year's competition in protest at Israel's participation.
The planned boycott brought to a head a row that has overshadowed the past two contests, and followed threats by the four they would pull out if the organiser did not exclude Israel over the conduct of its war against Hamas in Gaza.
BEIRUT, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem on Friday criticised the Lebanese government's decision to send a civilian delegate to the ceasefire committee, calling it a "free concession" to Israel and a clear violation of previous government positions.
On Wednesday, both Israel and Lebanon sent civilian envoys to a military committee monitoring their ceasefire, marking an expansion in the scope of talks between the two nations.
(Reporting by Maya Gebeily and Laila Bassam; Writing by Tala Ramadan; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
Dec 5 (Reuters) - Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Friday that ceasefire talks with Israel are primarily aimed at stopping Israeli hostilities on Lebanese territory, after the Israeli prime minister's office said it seeks economic cooperation.
Israel and Lebanon entered a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement last year, but Israel has not halted strikes against Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group.
Dec 5 (Reuters) - Iran's Revolutionary Guards Navy fired ballistic and cruise missiles at simulated targets in the Gulf on Friday during a two-day military exercise aimed at countering foreign threats, state media reported.
Earlier, Iran hosted an anti-terrorism drill in its northwestern province of East Azerbaijan with members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which, according to state Press TV, was intended to signal both “peace and friendship” to neighbouring states and warn enemies that “any miscalculation would meet a decisive response”.
Dec 5 (Reuters) - Fighting raged in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Congolese and Rwandan leaders in Washington to sign new deals aimed at ending years of conflict in a region rich in minerals.
Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda's Paul Kagame on Thursday reaffirmed commitments to a U.S.-brokered deal reached in June to stabilise the vast country and open the way for more Western mining investment.
One year after ousting Bashar al-Assad, Ahmed al-Sharaa has restored Syria's international standing and won sanctions relief.
But analysts warn the former jihadist still needs to secure trust on the home front.
Sectarian bloodshed in the country's Alawite and Druze minority heartlands -- alongside ongoing Israeli military operations -- have shaken Syria as President Sharaa tries to lead the country out of 14 years of war.
