The International Monetary Fund will lower global growth forecasts due to the Middle East war, its chief said Thursday, warning of the conflict's "scarring effects" despite a fragile ceasefire.

"Even in a best case, there will be no neat and clean return to the status quo ante," IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said.

Georgieva said that -- even in the fund's "most hopeful scenario" -- spiraling energy costs, infrastructure damage, supply disruptions and a loss of market confidence meant growth would be less than expected.

PARIS, April 9 (Reuters) - The Paris Public Prosecutor's office has dropped a probe into illegal drug possession against Rima Hassan, a French far-left member of the European Parliament, it said on Thursday.

ISLAMABAD, April 9 (Reuters) - Pakistan said Lebanon Prime Minister Nawaf Salam had sought Islamabad's support for bringing an immediate end to the attacks targeting Lebanon and its people in a phone call with Pakistan's prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif.

"... Pakistan was engaged in sincere efforts for regional peace and it was in this spirit that the peace talks between Iran and the U.S. were being convened," Sharif told Salam, according to a statement from Pakistan's Prime Minister Office.

(Reporting by Asif Shahzad;Editing by Alison Williams)

April 9 (Reuters) - NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has briefed some capitals that U.S. President Donald Trump wants concrete commitments within the next few days for help securing the Strait of Hormuz, two European diplomats told Reuters on Thursday.

Rutte met with Trump in Washington on Wednesday, amid tensions within the alliance over the Iran war.

"We note the frustration in Washington, but they did not consult allies either before or after starting this war," said one of the diplomats.

Just before 5 am at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a Muslim worshipper prayed in tears. A few hours later, similar emotion overcame Christians and Jews as the city's holy sites reopened following the truce with Iran.

Jerusalem's Old City contains major holy sites for all three Abrahamic religions, which had been shuttered since the start of the war sparked by the US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28.

For the first time in 41 days, Muslim worshippers returned to Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jews to the Western Wall and Christians to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

By Steven Scheer

JERUSALEM, April 9 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's long-running corruption trial will resume on Sunday, the courts' spokesperson said on Thursday, hours after Israel lifted a state of emergency imposed over its war with Iran.

Iran began targeting Israel with ballistic missiles and drones after Israel and U.S. President Donald Trump launched air strikes on Iran on February 28, citing the aims of preventing it projecting force abroad, ending its nuclear programme and encouraging the overthrow of its rulers.

April 9 (Reuters) - Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday that Israeli strikes on Lebanon violate the ceasefire agreement and would render negotiations meaningless.

Pezeshkian said Iran would not abandon the Lebanese people.

His comments come after Israel carried out its heaviest strikes on Lebanon since the conflict with Hezbollah broke out last month, killing more than 250 people on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Reuters;Editing by Alison Williams)

By Yuka Obayashi and Kentaro Okasaka

TOKYO, April 9 (Reuters) - Japan's Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) wants to start moving its vessels stranded near the Strait of Hormuz as soon as possible but must first ensure safe passage and receive guidance from the Japanese government, its chief executive said on Thursday.

Although U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran on Tuesday, there is still no sign that Tehran has lifted its blockade of the strategic waterway, which has disrupted global energy supplies and snarled supply chains.

Buffeted by six weeks of war in the Middle East, airlines have scrambled to trim routes and costs as fuel bills explode and wary clients think twice about their travel plans, a situation that could persist even if a fragile truce holds.

Carriers have largely halted flights in the Gulf region, with Air France announcing this week that it was extending its suspensions until May 3 -- a decision a source said was made before this week's ceasefire between the United States and Iran.

DUBAI, April 9 (Reuters) - More than 3,000 people were killed throughout Iran during the war that began on February 28, Iran's forensic chief told state media on Thursday, adding that 40% of the dead needed forensic work to be identified and returned to families.

(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Alex Richardson)