DUBAI, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Iran's Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi, will visit Russia and Belarus in the next two to three days, foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said on Sunday.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian met Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Turkmenistan on Friday.
(Reporting by Dubai NewsroomEditing by David Goodman)
Two American troops and a civilian interpreter were killed in central Syria on Saturday after an alleged member of the Islamic State (IS) group opened fire on a joint US-Syrian patrol, officials said.
"We mourn the loss of three Great American Patriots in Syria," US President Donald Trump said on his Truth Social platform, vowing "very serious retaliation."
Israel said it killed the head of weapons production in Hamas's military wing in a strike in the Gaza Strip on Saturday.
The civil defence agency and medical sources in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory told AFP an Israeli strike killed five people in the Tel al-Hawa district, southwest of Gaza City.
Contacted by AFP, the army said there was only one strike conducted in the area which killed the top Hamas figure, Raad Saad.
CAIRO/JERUSALEM, Dec 13 (Reuters) - The Israeli military struck a car in Gaza City on Saturday carrying senior Hamas commander Raed Saed, one of the architects of the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, according to an Israeli defence official and Israeli media.
The strike killed four people, according to Gaza health authorities. There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas or medics whether Saed was among the dead.
The Israeli military said it had targeted a senior Hamas commander in Gaza City, without given a name or further details.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Saturday marked in Baghdad the end of the United Nations' political mission in Iraq, which supported the country's transition following the US-led invasion.
At Baghdad's request, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) will shut down its operations after 22 years of assisting the country in its transition following the 2003 invasion and occupation that toppled longtime ruler Saddam Hussein.
"UNAMI was honoured and humbled to walk side-by-side with the Iraqi people," Guterres said at the mission's closing ceremony.
By Friederike Heine
BERLIN, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Germany will host U.S. and Ukrainian delegations over the weekend for talks on a ceasefire in Ukraine, before a summit with European leaders and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Berlin on Monday, a German official said.
A U.S. official said President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were travelling to Germany for talks involving Ukrainians and Europeans.
Dec 13 (Reuters) - A convoy of Syrian military forces and U.S. forces from the American-led coalition fighting Islamic State came under fire on Saturday while on patrol in the central Syrian town of Palmyra, two local Syrian officials told Reuters.
The officials said there were casualties. There was no immediate comment from the Pentagon.
(Reporting by Syria Bureau, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
ISTANBUL, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, fresh from a meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin, said he hopes to discuss a Ukraine-Russia peace plan with U.S. President Donald Trump, adding that "peace is not far away".
Erdogan met Putin in Turkmenistan on Friday, and they evaluated "comprehensive peace efforts" to end the war, a statement from Erdogan's office said on Friday, with Turkey reiterating its readiness to support peace efforts.
By Ahmed Elumami
Dec 12 (Reuters) - Libya's national museum, formerly known as As-Saraya Al-Hamra or the Red Castle, has reopened in Tripoli, allowing the public access to some of the country's finest historical treasures for the first time since the revolt that toppled Muammar Gaddafi.
The museum, Libya's largest, wasclosed in 2011 during a NATO-backed uprising against longtime ruler Gaddafi, who appeared on the castle's ramparts to deliver a fiery speech.
Dec 13 (Reuters) - International human rights groups on Saturday condemned the reported re-arrest of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi in Iran, with the Nobel committee calling on the Iranian authorities to immediately clarify her whereabouts.
Mohammadi's French lawyer Chirine Ardakani said on X that the human rights activist was arrested on Friday after denouncing the suspicious death of lawyer Khosrow Alikordi at his memorial ceremony in the northeastern city of Mashhad.
