By Feras Dalatey

April 24 - Syria's Interior Ministry said on Friday it had arrested the main suspect in the 2013 Tadamon massacre, one of the worst acts of violence attributed to the former government of Bashar al-Assad, in which 288 civilians were killed.

The ministry released footage of Amjad Yousef’s arrest in the Al-Ghab Plain area of Hama province in western Syria, near his hometown. Yousef had been hiding there since the overthrow of Assad at the end of 2024, a security source told Reuters.

By Jonathan Saul

LONDON, April 24 (Reuters) - Only five ships, including one Iranian oil products tanker, have passed through the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours, Friday shipping data showed, after Iran seized two container ships this week and the U.S. continues to blockade Iranian ports.

Shipping traffic passing through the crucial waterway at the entrance to the Gulf during an uneasy ceasefire between Washington and Tehran represents a fraction of the average 140 daily passages before the Iran war began on February 28.

Clutching a battered photo album, Mohamad Ali Hijazi searched a mountain of rubble in south Lebanon's Tyre for mementoes of his family, killed in an Israeli strike minutes before a ceasefire took hold.

"I'm trying to find my mother's hairbrush... and a bottle of perfume that she loves," said Hijazi, 48 -- some of the last things he sent her from France, where he has long lived with his wife and two daughters.

"My life has been destroyed. I haven't slept for five days," he said, repeatedly fighting back tears.

LONDON, April 24 (Reuters) - The sovereignty of the Falkland Islands rests with Britain, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Friday after an internal Pentagon email suggested reviewing the U.S. position on the Falklands as punishment for Britain's stance on the Iran war.

"We could not be clearer about the UK's position on the Falkland Islands. It is long standing, it is unchanged," the spokesperson told reporters.

BEIRUT, April 24 (Reuters) - Lebanon's Hezbollah said a U.S.-mediated ceasefire in the war with Israel was meaninglessa day after it was extended for three weeks, pointing tocontinued Israeli attacks in south Lebanon and saying the group had the right to respond.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced the three-week extension on Thursday after hosting Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors at the White House. The ceasefire agreement between the governments of Lebanon and Israel had been due to expire on Sunday.

By Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON, April 24 (Reuters) - An internal Pentagon email outlines options for the United States to punish NATO allies it believes failed to support U.S. operations in the war with Iran, including suspending Spain from the alliance and reviewing the U.S. position on Britain's claim to the Falkland Islands, a U.S. official told Reuters.

After weathering unprecedented attacks from Iran, the wealthy Gulf states are now stuck between war and peace as talks stall and the vital Strait of Hormuz remains all but closed -- threatening economic recovery.

Iran has hit Gulf energy exports with its Strait of Hormuz blockade, while its attacks have caused damage to energy infrastructure that could take months or more to repair.

By Ariba Shahid

ISLAMABAD, April 24 (Reuters) - For nearly a week, Pakistan's capital has been waiting for peace talks between the U.S. and Iran to take place there, and although there is no sign the two sides will meet, large parts of the city remain sealed off by authorities.

Key roads leading into Islamabad are shut down and a strict security cordon envelops the administrative centre, the so-called "Red Zone". In the adjacent "Blue Area", cafes have run out of fruit, markets are deserted and with no service at bus terminals, weekend commuters are struggling to get home.

By Crispian Balmer

ROME, April 24 (Reuters) - Conflict, drought and shrinking aid will keep global hunger at critical levels in 2026, with food insecurity expected to worsen in some of the world's most fragile countries, according to the 2026 Global Report on Food Crises.

The 10th edition of the hunger monitor, published by a coalition of development and humanitarian organisations, said that acute hunger had doubled over the past decade with two famines declared last year for the first time in the report's history - in Gaza and Sudan.

The latest developments in the Middle East war:

- Oil mixed, stocks at record highs -

Oil prices had a mixed day, with Brent oil futures edging higher to again finish above $100 a barrel, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate dropped 1.5 percent to $94.40 a barrel.

Major Wall Street indices closed at fresh records as US and Iranian officials headed to Pakistan for expected peace talks.

- US freezes $344 mn in cryptocurrency -