By Michael Holden

LONDON, Dec 1 (Reuters) - A former senior British officer has told a public inquiry that British special forces in Afghanistan appeared to commit war crimes by executing suspects and despite widespread knowledge in the chain of command nothing was done.

Britain's defence ministry (MoD) ordered the inquiry after a BBC TV documentary reported that soldiers from the elite Special Air Service (SAS) had killed 54 people during the war in Afghanistan more than a decade ago in suspicious circumstances.

Pope Leo XIV got a rockstar welcome from thousands of Lebanese youth on Monday, bringing them a message of hope on the second day of his visit to the crisis-hit country.

Locals have joyfully welcomed the American pontiff, turning out in their thousands to his public appearances and lining streets where his motorcade has passed, waving Vatican flags, ululating and throwing rice in celebration despite intermittent rain.

The Afghan suspect in the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington may have been radicalized after entering the US, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said when questioned about his motive on Sunday talk shows.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, faces a first-degree murder charge in the November 26 shooting that left a 20-year-old guardsman dead and another critically wounded.

"I will say we believe he was radicalized since he's been here in this country," Noem said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

By Ted Hesson and Jasper Ward

WASHINGTON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - U.S. authorities believe the Afghan immigrant accused of ambushing National Guard members in Washington, D.C., was not radicalized until after he came to the United States, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Sunday.

Speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press" and ABC’s "This Week," Noem said authorities think that alleged shooter Rahmanullah Lakanwal was already living in Washington state when he became radicalized. Investigators are seeking more information from family members and others, Noem said.

By Joshua McElwee

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT TO BEIRUT, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Pope Leo said on Sunday that the only solution in the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people must include a Palestinian state, reaffirming the Vatican's position.

"We all know that at this time Israel still does not accept that solution, but we see it as the only solution," Leo, the first U.S. pope, told journalists on a flight from Turkey to Lebanon during his first in-flight press conference.

A senior Kurdistan Workers' Party commander told AFP the group will take no further steps in the peace process with Turkey, urging it to advance negotiations and free PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan.

"All the steps the leader Apo has initiated have been implemented... there will be no further actions taken," commander Amed Malazgirt told AFP on Saturday in a bunker in the Qandil mountains in northern Iraq.

"From now on, we will be waiting for the Turkish state and they have to be the one taking steps," he said.

The group has two demands, he added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on trial facing corruption charges, announced Sunday he had submitted a pardon request, saying the long-running cases were tearing the country apart.

US President Donald Trump wrote to Israeli President Isaac Herzog earlier this month, asking him to pardon Netanyahu, who has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in the proceedings.

"The trial in my case has been ongoing for nearly six years, and is expected to continue for many more years," Netanyahu said in a video statement, without admitting guilt.

Nov 30 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has submitted an official request for his pardon to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, the Israeli president's office said on Sunday.

"The Office of the President is aware that this is an extraordinary request which carries with it significant implications. After receiving all of the relevant opinions, the President will responsibly and sincerely consider the request," Herzog's office said.

There was no immediate comment from the prime minister's office.

Visiting Pope Leo XIV urged the Lebanese people on Sunday to embrace reconciliation and remain in their crisis-hit country, while calling on its leaders to put themselves fully at the service of their citizens.

The pope, bearing what he described as a message of peace, had previously visited Turkey, where he kicked off his first overseas tour since being elected leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics in May.

Long hailed as a model of coexistence, multi-confessional Lebanon is nonetheless plagued by sectarian and political rifts, and has seen waves of emigration.

BAGHDAD, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Operations restarted at Iraq's Khor Mor gas field, with the transmission of gas to power stations starting at 2:00 a.m. Sunday (2300 GMT Saturday), the Kurdish regional government's electricity ministry announced, days after a drone attack halted production and led to extensive power cuts.

The Khor Mor gas field, one of the largest in the Kurdistan region, provides supplies for regional power generation.