By Asif Shahzad and Ariba Shahid

ISLAMABAD, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Pakistan will join U.S. President Donald Trump's "Board of Peace" to help achieve lasting peace in Gaza, its foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

Pakistan hoped "concrete steps will be taken towards the implementation of a permanent ceasefire" as well as to boost aid and Gaza's reconstruction, the ministry said in a statement.

The announcement came after Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir flew to Davos, three Pakistani officials told Reuters.

By Eltayeb Siddig

EL OBEID, Sudan, Jan 21 - Drone strikes have intensified in and around al-Obeid in central Sudan as the country's devastating civil war closes in on the army-controlled city, causing significant civiliandeaths in at least two cases, residents say.

The city is one of Sudan's most important and the capital of North Kordofan state, part of the wider Kordofan region that stands between the RSF's Darfur stronghold and the army-controlled eastern half of the country.

Jan 21 (Reuters) - Seven Syrian soldiers were killed in a drone attack by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in northeastern Syria's Hasakah province, Syria's Defence Ministry said on Wednesday.

The drone attack took place in the countryside against an explosives workshop that was being secured by the army, the state news agency reported. The SDF has pulled back from a swathe of northern and eastern Syria this week, handing over territory to the army.

(Reporting by Ahmed ElimamEditing by Peter Graff)

The Syrian government's attempt to wrest back control of Kurdish-held areas has thrown into doubt the fate of thousands of suspected Islamic State group jihadists detained there, with Western observers worried many could take advantage of the chaos to escape.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces spearheaded the battle against IS in Syria, backed by a US-led coalition, after it declared a "caliphate" in swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014.

ANKARA, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will represent Turkey's president on U.S. President Donald Trump's international "Board of Peace" initiative, a Turkish source told Reuters on Wednesday.

Trump had sent an invitation to President Tayyip Erdogan to become a member of the board, an initiative that initially aimed to end the conflict in Gaza but that Trump has said will resolve conflicts globally.

Trump is due to preside over a ceremony marking the "Board of Peace" on Thursday at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Israeli fire killed five Palestinians, including two boys, in central and southern Gaza, local health authorities said, and the Israeli military said it had "eliminated" a Palestinian militant who posed a threat to soldiers.

Israel and Hamas have traded blame for many breaches of the October ceasefire after two years of war that devastated Gaza and caused a humanitarian disaster, and remain at odds over the next steps in U.S. President Donald Trump's 20-point peace plan.

ANKARA, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Kurdish forces in northern Syria must lay down weapons and disband now to avoid further bloodshed, after Damascus struck a ceasefire with the group and gave them four days to agree on integrating into the central state.

Syria's Turkey-backed government forces seized swathes of territory from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria this week, as part of President Ahmed al-Sharaa's efforts to bring all the country under central government authority.

The United States said it launched an operation Wednesday that could move thousands of Islamic State group jihadists from Syria to Iraq, as Syrian and Kurdish-led forces traded accusations of breaching a fragile ceasefire.

The move came a day after Washington said the purpose of its alliance with the Syrian Kurds had largely ended, with the US now backing Syria's Islamist authorities who are seeking to extend their grip on the country after years of civil war.

The widow of Iran's last shah has told AFP there is "no turning back" after a wave of protests against the country's clerical authorities, saying she is convinced the Iranian people will emerge victorious.

Driven into exile with her husband in January 1979 during a popular revolution that brought the Islamic republic to power, Farah Pahlavi said her "desire" and "need today are to return to Iran", in an exclusive interview with AFP.

ROME, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Italy won't take part in U.S. President Donald Trump's "Board of Peace" initiative, daily Corriere della Sera reported on Wednesday, citing concern that joining such a group led by a single country's leader would violate Italy's constitution.

Trump's plan has so far drawn cautious reactions from Western allies, as diplomats say it could undermine the work of the United Nations.

On Thursday, Trump is due to preside over a ceremony celebrating the new group in Davos, Switzerland, site of the World Economic Forum.