By Timour Azhari, Ahmed Rasheed and Humeyra Pamuk

RIYADH/BAGHDAD/WASHINGTON, May 13 (Reuters) - Saudi fighter jets bombed targets linked to powerful Tehran-backed Shi'ite militias in Iraq during the Iran war, while retaliatory strikes were also launched from Kuwait into Iraq, multiple sources familiar with the matter said.

The strikes are part of a broader pattern of military responses around the Gulf that remained largely hidden during a conflict that has drawn in the wider Middle East since joint Israeli-U.S. strikes on Iran on February 28.

DUBAI, May 13 (Reuters) - Iran has released on bail prominent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who was arrested in early April in a crackdown during the conflict with the United States and Israel, Iranian news agencies and her daughter said on Wednesday.

Nournews, affiliated with Iran's top security body, said Sotoudeh was freed on bail, without referring to any charges she might still face. Mehraveh Khandan, Sotoudeh's daughter, confirmed her mother's release in a post on social media.

In Tunisia, May usually heralds the start of the summer tourism boom, but as the Middle East war wreaks havoc on the region, the season is opening on uneasy footing.

Industry officials blame the fallout from the conflict, which has sent oil prices and travel costs skyrocketing, even thousands of miles away in Tunisia's idyllic island of Djerba.

Anane Kamoun, director of the Royal Garden Palace hotel on the island, said reservations have fallen by about half this year at his establishment.

LONDON, May 13 - The war that began on February 28 with a massive Israeli-U.S. bombing campaign against Iran has rocked the entire Middle East, wreaking damage to infrastructure and economies and overturning settled assumptions about regional security.

On a second major front, Israel launched a ground invasion and bombing campaign of Lebanon in March in pursuit of Hezbollah fighters after the armed group fired across the border in solidarity with Iran.

This is how some countries have been impacted:

IRAN

By Gabriel Stargardter and Raphael Satter

PARIS, May 13 (Reuters) - French authorities are examining whether a foreign interference campaign aimed at a hard-left party ahead ofMarch's municipal elections was carried out at least in part by an obscure Israeli firm called BlackCore, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war:

- Vessel taken near Hormuz -

A ship off the UAE coast near the Strait of Hormuz has been taken by unknown people and is now headed towards Iran, a UK maritime agency said.

The vessel was "taken by unauthorised personnel whilst at anchor" 38 nautical miles northeast of Fujairah, and "is now bound for Iranian territorial waters", according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre.

- Trump, Xi discuss Mideast -

By Jonathan Spicer and Ahmed Rasheed

ANKARA/BAGHDAD, May 13 (Reuters) - Just two weeks after Turkey's parliament made recommendations on how to advance the country's peace process with Kurdish militants, the Iran war broke out, plunging the Middle East into fresh instability and bringing new doubts on both sides.

Turkey has warned of the risk of new Kurdish mobilisations in Iran and Iraq and, according to a government official, played a key role in quashing a short-lived U.S.-Israeli idea to back a Kurdish militant ground invasion of Iran from Iraq.

ANKARA, May 13 (Reuters) - Turkey's attempt to finish its decades-old conflict with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militant group has stalled, with both sides waiting for the other to act in a peace bid complicated by the Iran war.

The apparent stalemate has held up a resolution to one of the world's longest-running conflicts, which has killed more than 40,000 people since 1984, exacted a huge economic cost and sowed political and social divisions in Turkey.

Here are key questions about the insurgency and the current stalled process.

WHAT IS THE CONFLICT ABOUT?

May 13 (Reuters) - The World Food Programme said on Wednesday it had halved emergency food assistance in Syria due to funding shortages, warning that millions remained vulnerable despite signs of stabilisation in parts of the country.

The U.N. agency's biggest donor, the United States, has slashed its foreign aid under President Donald Trump, and other countries have also made or announced cuts in development and humanitarian assistance.

Four people were thrown out of the first Eurovision Song Contest semi-final, which saw attempts to disrupt Israel's performance, organisers said Wednesday.

As 28-year-old Israeli singer Noam Bettan began his performance of "Michelle" during Tuesday's live show, a protester could be heard shouting "Stop, stop the genocide", and "Free, free Palestine".

Israel's participation in Eurovision 2026 has caused Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Iceland and Slovenia to pull out of the world's biggest live televised music event.