RIYADH (Reuters) -Saudi Arabia's investment minister led a business delegation travelling to Syria on Wednesday, where they were expected to sign deals worth $4 billion to $6 billion as part of Riyadh's efforts to support the country's post-war recovery.

The Gulf kingdom has been a crucial supporter of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa's government, which came to power after toppling longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December and is now seeking to rebuild Syria after a 14-year civil war.

(Reuters) -Syria will sign 44 agreements with Saudi Arabia estimated to be worth at nearly $6 billion, Syrian Information Minister Hamza al-Moustafa said on Wednesday.

He spoke at a press conference as Damascus hosts a Saudi-Syrian investment conference attended by a top Saudi business delegation.

(Reporting by Yomna Ehab; Writing by Menna Alaa El-Din, Editing by William Maclean)

OTTAWA (Reuters) -The Canadian government said on Wednesday that Israeli military operations against civilians and aid workers in Gaza were unacceptable, and called for the immediate resumption of U.N.-led aid distribution in the war-torn enclave.

"Israeli military operations against WHO staff and facilities, World Food Programme aid convoys, & the ongoing killing of Palestinians seeking urgently needed food and water are unacceptable," the Canadian foreign ministry said on X.

Amnesty International said on Thursday that Iran fired widely-banned cluster munitions at Israel during a war between the two countries in June, in attacks that endangered civilians.

"Last month, the Iranian forces fired ballistic missiles whose warheads contained submunitions into populated residential areas of Israel," the human rights group said, citing new research.

The organisation said it analysed photos and videos showing cluster munitions that, according to media reports, struck inside the Gush Dan metropolitan area around Tel Aviv on June 19.

By Lisandra Paraguassu

BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazil is finalizing its submission to join South Africa's genocide case against Israel's actions in Gaza at the International Court of Justice, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

South Africa filed a case in 2023 asking the ICJ to declare that Israel was in breach of its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention. The case argues that in its war against Hamas militants Israel's military actions go beyond targeting Hamas alone by attacking civilians, with strikes on schools, hospitals, camps, and shelters.

(Reuters) -Ukraine brought home a new group of prisoners of war from Russia on Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, saying it brought to more than 1,000 the number of returning soldiers as agreed at talks in Turkey.

Zelenskiy, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said those returning were ill or seriously wounded.

"The servicemen who are returning today defended Ukraine in different sectors of the front," Zelenskiy wrote. "A significant number spent more than three years as prisoners. All are receiving key support and medical assistance."

NICOSIA (Reuters) -Firefighters in Cyprus were battling on Wednesday to contain a huge wildfire forcing the evacuation of at least four villages on the first day of a heatwave which sent temperatures soaring.

Authorities said the fire was raging in terrain north of the southern city of Limassol, stoked by strong winds and high temperatures. A fire brigade spokesperson said there had been 'considerable damage' to homes in the region, known for its vineyards.

Sitting near a poster of Che Guevara inside his French prison cell before his release this week, pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah said the "struggle" kept him going during his four decades behind bars.

A court last week ordered the 74-year-old -- who was jailed over the 1982 killings of two foreign diplomats in Paris -- be released from the Lannemezan prison in southern France on Friday.

Abdallah is one of the longest-serving prisoners in France, where most convicts with life sentences are freed after less than 30 years.

KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine's delegation for a third round of peace talks with Russia has arrived in Istanbul, Ukraine's public broadcaster Suspilne reported on Wednesday, citing the foreign ministry spokesperson.

(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa, writing by Max Hunder, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

(Reuters) -Israel's President Isaac Herzog visited the Gaza strip on Wednesday and told soldiers that there were "intensive negotiations" about returning the hostages in Gaza, adding that he hopes that they will soon "hear good news", a statement from the president's spokesperson reported.

(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield, writing by Yomna Ehab, Editing by William Maclean)