A senior Hamas official told AFP on Sunday that the Palestinian Islamist movement was in the final phase of selecting a new leader, with two prominent figures competing for the position.

Hamas recently completed the formation of a new Shura Council of more than 80 members, a consultative body largely composed of religious scholars, as well as a new 18-member political bureau, the official said.

Since the war in Gaza began after Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, Israeli forces have killed several Hamas leaders, including two former chiefs.

Feb 22 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is curious as to why Iran has not yet "capitulated" and agreed to curb its nuclear programme, as Washington builds up its military capability in the Middle East, Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said.

"I don't want to use the word 'frustrated,' because he understands he has plenty of alternatives, but he's curious as to why they haven't... I don't want to use the word 'capitulated,' but why they haven't capitulated," Witkoff said in an interview on Fox News on Saturday.

When floods forced Ahmed El Habachi out of his Moroccan village, he thought the displacement was temporary. Weeks later, he broke his Ramadan fast in a tent, wondering when he would return home.

During the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, families traditionally gather over joyous feasts to break the daytime fast.

But the floods that battered northwestern Morocco in recent weeks have left evacuees like Habachi with little to celebrate.

"We prepare Iftar with whatever we can lay our hands on," the 37-year-old told AFP, referring to the fast-breaking meal.

KARACHI, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Pakistan said it launched strikes on militant targets in Afghanistan after blaming recent suicide bombings, including assaults during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, on fighters it said were operating from its neighbour's territory.

Women and children were among the dozens killed and injured in Saturday's attacks, the South Asian nation's ruling Taliban said, in remarks Reuters could not verify, while its defence ministry vowed an appropriate response at a suitable time.

JERUSALEM, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Comments by U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee suggesting that Israel had a biblical right to much of the Middle East drew condemnation over the weekend from countries across the region, who called his remarks "dangerous and inflammatory".

Huckabee, an evangelical Christian, has been a staunch supporter of Israel throughout his political career and a longtime defender of Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank - land which the Palestinians seek for a state.

DUBAI, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Iran and the U.S. have differing views over the scope and mechanism to lift sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Sunday, adding that renewed talks were scheduled in early March and could possibly lead to an interim deal.

(Reporting Parisa Hafezi, writing by Dubai Newsroom, Editing by Alex Richardson)

A Syrian prison warden screams at a group of chained, crouching inmates in a harrowing scene from one of several Ramadan television series this year that tackle the era of former ruler Bashar al-Assad.

Talking about Syria's prisons and the torture, enforced disappearances and executions that took place there was taboo during half a century of the Assad family's iron-fisted rule, but the topics are now fertile ground for creative productions, though not without controversy.

Feb 22 (Reuters) - Australia's centre-left government on Sunday rejected a local media report that said it was working to repatriate Australians in a Syrian camp holding families of suspected Islamic State militants.

The 34 women and children were released on Monday from the camp in northern Syria, but returned to the detention centre due to technical reasons. The group is expected to travel to Damascus before eventually returning to Australia, despite objections from ruling and opposition lawmakers.

By Feras Dalatey

Feb 22 - Islamic State claimed responsibility on Saturday for two attacks targeting Syrian army personnel in northern and eastern Syria, as the militant group signaled what it described as a new phase of operations against the country’s leadership.

The militant group said on its Dabiq news agency that it had targeted “an individual of the apostate Syrian regime” in the city of Mayadin in Deir al-Zor province using a pistol, and attacked two other personnel with machine guns in the northern city of Raqqa.

By Andrea Mandala

MILAN, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Italy's state broadcaster RAI was forced to apologise to the Jewish community on Saturday after an off‑air remark advising its producers to "avoid" the Israeli crew was broadcast before coverage of the Four-Man bobsleigh event at the Winter Olympics.

The head of RAI's sports division had already resigned earlier in the week after his error-ridden commentary at the Milano Cortina 2026 opening ceremony two weeks ago triggered a revolt among its journalists.