For days, Syrians have watched as Iranian missiles and Israeli interceptors light up the skies over their territory, but the new government in Damascus has so far remained officially silent on the unprecedented conflict.

Iran was one of former ruler Bashar al-Assad's biggest backers, playing a crucial role in propping up his government by providing military advisers and the support of affiliated armed groups throughout the 14-year Syrian civil war.

European foreign ministers will hold talks Friday with their Iranian counterpart, hoping to reach a diplomatic solution to the war with Israel as US President Donald Trump mulls the prospect of US involvement.

Israel, claiming Iran was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon, launched air strikes against its arch-enemy a week ago, triggering deadly exchanges.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sworn Iran will "pay a heavy price" for a strike on an Israeli hospital on Thursday, an attack Tehran said was targeting a military and intelligence base.

The United States has thousands of troops deployed on bases across the Middle East, a region in which Washington's forces have carried out repeated military operations in recent decades.

Israel launched an unprecedented air campaign against Iran last week, and US President Donald Trump has said he is weighing whether to join Israel in the fight.

US involvement in the conflict would likely result in attacks by Tehran on American troops in the region, who were already targeted by Iran-aligned forces in the course of the Israel-Hamas war.

Dragging two suitcases and wearing a rucksack, Homa looked exhausted after crossing the Turkish border following a long trip from Tehran where she'd been on holiday when the Israel-Iran war began.

The 40-year-old Iranian who works in Canada as a business analyst was stranded when Iran closed its airspace after Israel launched a massive pre-dawn bombing campaign on Friday and the Islamic republic struck back, in their most intense confrontation in history.

As Israel presses its aerial attacks on Tehran, concern is growing over the fate of foreign nationals and Iranians seen by rights groups as political prisoners imprisoned in the capital who have no chance of fleeing to safety.

Iran is believed to hold around 20 European nationals, many of whose cases have never been published, in what some Western governments describe as a strategy of hostage-taking aimed at extracting concessions from the West.

The Iran-Israel war has helped strengthen Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu domestically and overseas, just as his grip on power looked vulnerable.

On the eve of launching strikes on Iran, his government looked to be on the verge of collapse, with a drive to conscript ultra-Orthodox Jews threatening to scupper his fragile coalition.

Nearly two years on from Hamas's unprecedented attack in 2023, Netanyahu was under growing domestic criticism for his handling of the war in Gaza, where dozens of hostages remain unaccounted for.

The use of the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to distribute food in the Palestinian territory is "outrageous", the head of a UN inquiry said Wednesday.

Navi Pillay, who chairs the UN's Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Israel and the Palestinian territories, joined a growing chorus of criticism of the GHF's operations, and cited its US links.

"In every war, the siege and starvation surely leads to death," the former UN rights chief told journalists.

As Iran and Israel trade strikes and the US weighs joining in, wealthy Gulf states on the conflict's doorstep are engaged in frantic diplomacy to halt the war -- but solutions remain elusive.

A spillover of the conflict or the Iranian government's collapse are both worrying outcomes for the energy-rich region, which hosts several major US military bases.

Peace and stability have been central to the rise of Gulf powers including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who are pivoting their economies towards business and tourism.

The Dutch captain of a Gaza-bound ship carrying activists including Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg said Wednesday future missions could still be in the works as he returned to the Netherlands.

Mark van Rennes arrived back at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, greeted by dozens of supporters, some carrying Palestinian flags and banners reading "Free Palestine."

His ship, the Madleen, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, left Italy on June 1 with the aim of delivering aid and challenging the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was still deciding whether to join Israel's strikes on Iran, claiming Tehran now wants talks at the White House but may have waited too long.

Trump held his second Situation Room meeting in two days with his national security team as he left the world guessing about his potential order of military action.

"I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do," Trump told reporters at the unveiling of one of two giant new flagpoles at the White House.