Malakeh Barbour caresses her son Haidar, his face scarred from a

Chinese President Xi Jinping urged Middle Eastern countries on Wednesday to oppose "external interference" and said Beijing was ready to work with regional states to safeguard maritime shipping, jeopardised by the US-Iran war.

Xi's remarks to his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, on his first visit to Cairo in a decade, come as Beijing seeks a greater foothold in the region, expanding investment while managing fallout from the six-month conflict.

By David Brunnstrom

Sept 1 (Reuters) - France said on Tuesday the U.N. Security Council will vote this month on renewing the mandate of a panel monitoring sanctions on Iran, setting up a potential showdown with Russia and China, which oppose the sanctions regime and oversight mechanisms.

The mandate of the panel, which supports the work of the U.N. sanctions committee on Iran, is due to expire on September 26, during the annual meeting of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly. The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran is expected to top the agenda.

By Francois Murphy

VIENNA, Sept 1 (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog has resolved its outstanding questions from an investigation into secret nuclear activities in Syria under the Assad family's rule but made no progress in Iran, it said on Tuesday in confidential reports seen by Reuters.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Israeli special forces captured a Hamas militant leader in a raid in Gaza City on Tuesday while Israeli air strikes meant to protect those troops killed four Palestinians, authorities said.

Israel's military said in a statement that special forces from the Shin Bet intelligence agency captured Hamas' internal security service chief in a joint operation with the military in a Hamas-controlled area of Gaza City.

A Syrian site held infrastructure "consistent with a nuclear reactor", the UN nuclear watchdog said in a confidential report seen by AFP on Tuesday, adding that the country under ousted former leader Bashar al-Assad "failed to report nuclear material, facilities and activities".

Inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last month visited two sites, one in Deir Ezzor and a second location related to nuclear material identified by Syria.

LONDON, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Britain will set out a "comprehensive" package of measures on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank in the coming weeks, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said on Tuesday.

Miliband told lawmakers that Israel's E1 settlement project would cut across land which the Palestinians seek for a state and "risks making a Palestinian state unviable".

"This government will not acquiesce in the destruction of the two-state solution," he said. "We will act and I will set out a comprehensive set of measures in the coming weeks."

Iran struck US interests around the Middle East on Wednesday, vowing "severe" consequences for renewed American attacks on the Islamic republic.

The latest fighting over the Strait of Hormuz once again expanded to US military bases in the region and drew Washington's Gulf allies deeper into the six-month conflict.

US President Donald Trump had warned earlier of "much harder and higher" attacks if Iran retaliated to the US strikes which Iranian state media said had killed 11 people in the country's south and southwest.

Britain's foreign secretary vowed a tough response to "appalling" violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, drawing threats from Israel that it would retaliate if the UK imposed sanctions.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing allies have been ramping up support for settlements in the run-up to close-fought elections, despite increasing attacks by extremist settlers who seek to drive out Palestinians.

Sept 1 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the latest U.S. attack on Iran was "justified," and threatened bigger strikes if Tehran retaliated.

Trump, in a Truth Social post, said the U.S. military was striking Iranian targets near the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday in retaliation for Iran's "failed attempt at adding sea mines" to the Strait and for shooting eight missiles at a U.S. military base in Jordan.

(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya, Susan Heavey and Ismail Shakil;Editing by David Ljunggren)