People gathered in several towns in the breakaway region of Somaliland on Sunday to celebrate its recognition by Israel -- a decision condemned by the Somali president as a "threat" to stability in the Horn of Africa.

Israel announced on Friday it was officially recognising Somaliland, a first for the self-proclaimed republic that in 1991 declared it had unilaterally separated from Somalia.

On Sunday, the leader of the Houthis warned that any Israeli presence in Somaliland would be considered a "military target".

By Karam al-Masri

LATAKIA, Syria Dec 28 - Three people were killed on Sunday when protests in Syria's Alawite heartland of Latakia spiralledinto gunfire and other violence, according to the province's media office.

Syria has been rocked by several episodes of sectarian bloodshed since longtime leader Bashar al-Assad, who hails from the Muslim Alawite minority, was ousted by a rebel offensive last year and replaced by a Sunni-led government.

It only took a matter of minutes after the heavy overnight rain first began to fall for Jamil al-Sharafi's tent in southern Gaza to flood, drenching his food and leaving his blankets sopping wet.

The winter rains have made an already precarious life worse for people like Sharafi, who is among the hundreds of thousands in the Palestinian territory displaced by the war, many of whom now survive on aid provided by humanitarian organisations.

"My children are shivering from cold and fear... The tent was completely flooded within minutes," Sharafi, 47, said on Sunday.

Deep in Iraq's southern desert, bulldozers and earthmovers spread layers of moist clay over sand dunes as part of a broader effort to fight increasingly frequent sandstorms.

Iraq has long suffered from sand and dust storms, but in recent years they have become more frequent and intense as the country falls prey to the effects of climate change.

ROME, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Italian prosecutors said on Saturday they had arrested nine people on suspicion of financing Hamas through charities based in Italy, in an operation coordinated by anti-mafia and anti-terrorism units.

The suspects are accused of "belonging to and having financed" the Palestinian group, which the European Union designates as a terrorist organisation, prosecutors in the northern Italian city of Genoa said in a statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to meet US President Donald Trump in Florida on Monday, an Israeli official told AFP, in what is seen as a crucial visit for the next steps of the fragile Gaza truce plan.

It will be Netanyahu's fifth visit to see key ally Trump in the United States this year.

His trip comes as the Trump administration and regional mediators push to proceed to the second stage of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The Saudi-led coalition warned Saturday it would back Yemen's government in any military confrontation with separatist forces, as Riyadh urged them to withdraw "peacefully" from recently-seized provinces.

The statements came a day after reported Saudi air strikes on separatist positions in Yemen's Hadramawt province -- and after Washington called for restraint in the rapidly escalating conflict.

General Turki al-Malki, the spokesman for the coalition, warned of intervention if efforts to de-escalate the situation failed because of the separatists' actions.

CAIRO, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Yemen's Saudi-led coalition said any military moves by the main southern separatist group STC in the eastern province of Hadramout contrary to de-escalation efforts will be dealt with to protect civilians, the Saudi state news agency reported on Saturday.

Somalia and the African Union reacted angrily Friday after Israel became the first country to formally recognise the northern region of Somaliland as an independent state.

Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 and has pushed for international recognition for decades, with president Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi making it a top priority since taking office last year.

LONDON, Dec 26 (Reuters) - High-profile activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, who was released from prison after an Egyptian presidential pardon in September, has arrived in Britain, the Egyptian-British campaigner's family and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Friday.

Abd el-Fattah, 44, has become Egypt's most prominent political prisoner after spending much of his adult life in and out of detention due to his activism, and a rare symbol of opposition to a far-reaching crackdown under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.