President Ahmed al-Sharaa will become Syria's first leader to pay an official visit to the White House on Monday, a crowning achievement for the ex-jihadist who since taking power has ended his country's isolation.

Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, will meet President Donald Trump during the unprecedented visit.

US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said earlier this month that Sharaa will "hopefully" sign an agreement to join the international US-led alliance against the Islamic State (IS).

DUBAI (Reuters) -Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said that Iran seeks peace, but will not bow to coercion, adding that Tehran will not abandon its nuclear programme, state media reported on Friday.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Iran had been asking if U.S. sanctions against the country could be lifted.

(Reporting by Parisa Hafezi, Writing by Ahmed Elimam; Editing by Aidan Lewis)

By Timour Azhari

(Reuters) -Turkey is preparing a law to let thousands of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters and civilians return home from hideouts in northern Iraq under negotiations to end generations of war.

A senior Middle East official and a Kurdish political party source in Turkey said the proposed law would protect those returning home but stop short of offering a general amnesty for crimes committed by former militants. Some militant leaders could be sent to third countries under the plans.

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (Reuters) -Stinking mounds of fly-covered garbage lie strewn throughout Gaza amid the rubble from Israel's devastating military campaign, spilling out along roadsides and between the tents where most of the shattered enclave's people live.

Government services such as rubbish collection ceased as soon as the war began and although they are partially returning since the truce last month, the massive extent of destruction means any more thorough cleanup lies far in the future.

The United Nations warned on Friday of "intensified hostilities" ahead in Sudan, despite paramilitary forces endorsing a truce proposal from mediators after more than two years of war with the regular army.

"There is no sign of de-escalation," UN human rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.

"Developments on the ground indicate clear preparations for intensified hostilities, with everything that implies for its long-suffering people."

LIMASSOL, Cyprus (Reuters) -The United Arab Emirates is preparing to increase aid deliveries into Gaza, an envoy said on Friday, saying a sea corridor from Cyprus was essential alongside land and air access.

Minister of State Lana Nusseibeh said a maritime route channelling pre-screened aid from the East Mediterranean island was a vital lifeline to the people of Gaza. The UAE has partnered with Cyprus in supplying large quantities of aid to the Palestinian enclave, devastated by a two-year war.

By Ahmed Rasheed

BAGHDAD (Reuters) -Qais Al-Khazali, a militia leader who has been designated as a global terrorist by the United States and is an important ally of Iran, has sought to soften his image in a quest to become one of Iraq's top politicians.

Success for his Iran-aligned Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq movement in a parliamentary election on Tuesday would be another step in his attempts to reinvent himself, giving him more influence in the Shi'ite leadership and leverage in the formation of a government.

As guardian of the occupied West Bank's oldest olive tree, Salah Abu Ali prunes its branches and gathers its fruit even as violence plagues the Palestinian territory during this year's harvest.

"This is no ordinary tree. We're talking about history, about civilisation, about a symbol," the 52-year-old said proudly, smiling behind his thick beard in the village of Al-Walajah, south of Jerusalem.

Abu Ali said experts had estimated the tree to be between 3,000 and 5,500 years old. It has endured millennia of drought and war in this parched land scarred by conflict.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) -Turkish prosecutors said on Friday they had ordered the detention of 21 people, including 17 referees and the chairman of an unnamed Super Lig club as part of an investigation into alleged betting on soccer matches.

So far 18 of the 21 suspects have been detained, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported.

The move comes a week after the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) suspended 149 referees and assistant referees after an investigation found the officials working in the country's professional leagues were betting on football matches.

(Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Iran has been asking if U.S. sanctions against the country can be lifted.

"Iran has been asking if the sanctions could be lifted. Iran has got very heavy U.S. sanctions, and it makes it really hard for them to do what they'd like to be able to do. And I'm open to hearing that, and we'll see what happens, but I would be open to it," Trump told reporters late on Thursday at the White House.

Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.