By Parisa Hafezi

DUBAI, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Art student Arash was walking home through the streets of Tehran when a shotgun blast ended his life. He had not shouted slogans, joined protesters or raised a fist.

A friend, speaking by telephone from the Iranian capital, described the moment in a voice cracking with grief: Arash fell instantly, lifeless on the pavement. He was 22.

The Israeli military said it struck four crossings along the Syria-Lebanon border on Wednesday that were used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons, after earlier launching fresh strikes on the militant group in Lebanon.

"A short while ago, the (Israeli military) struck four border crossings on the Syria-Lebanon border used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons in the area of Hermel," the military said in a statement, without providing further details.

Jan 21 (Reuters) - The number of journalists jailed worldwide declined in 2025 but remains near record highs, the Committee to Protect Journalists said in a report on Wednesday that warned about ongoing threats to press freedoms.

The group said 330 journalists were behind bars as of December 1, down from a record high of 384 reported at the end of 2024.

The report said there were 50 journalists imprisoned in China, the most of any single country, followed by Myanmar with 30 and Israel with 29. It said that all of the journalists imprisoned in Israel were Palestinian.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Jan 21 (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee has not yet had any formal communication with the White House and U.S. President Donald Trump on preparations for the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Olympics, IOC President Kirsty Coventry said on Wednesday.

Trump marked the end of a turbulent first year in office on Tuesday, havingrocked international diplomatic waters with his case for acquiring Greenland as an Arctic guard post against Russia and China, and threatening a trade war with Europeans who oppose him.

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.