Kazakhstan said Thursday it will join the Abraham Accords between Israel and mainly Muslim nations, in a largely symbolic move aimed at boosting US President Donald Trump's push for Middle East peace.

The central Asian republic has had diplomatic ties with Israel for decades, unlike the four Arab states that normalized relations with Israel under the original accords signed in Trump's first term.

But with Trump aiming to shore up his fragile Gaza ceasefire deal, Washington is pushing to get as much support as possible behind a wider peace initiative.

The United Nations Security Council voted in favor of a US resolution on Thursday to lift sanctions on Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, ahead of his White House visit next week.

"(The Council) decides that Ahmed al-Sharaa...and (Interior Minister) Anas Hasan Khattab are delisted from the ISIL and Al-Qaida Sanctions List," said the resolution, approved by 14 council members. China abstained.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -The United Nations Security Council removed sanctions on Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who is due to meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday.

The U.S.-drafted resolution on Thursday also lifted sanctions on Syrian Interior Minister Anas Khattab. It received 14 votes in favor, while China abstained.

Washington has been urging the 15-member Security Council for months to ease Syria sanctions.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -An Israeli hostage who was released in October has told an Israeli television channel he was subjected to sexual violence during his two-year captivity in Gaza by Palestinian militants -- the first male hostage to publicly make such an accusation.

Rom Braslavski, 21, who was abducted from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, made the allegation in an interview with Channel 13's Hazinor programme. Excerpts of the interview, broadcast late on Thursday, were shared with Reuters.

By Jonathan Saul and Renee Maltezou

ATHENS (Reuters) -Pirates boarded a Malta-flagged products tanker off Somalia on Thursday, but the crew took refuge in a fortified safe room and remain in control of the vessel, maritime security sources said.

A burst of armed attacks on vessels in the region - including the first involving suspected Somali pirates in a year - has reignited concerns for shipping lanes used to transport critical energy and goods to global markets.

The newly elected mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, is married to Rama Duwaji, a woman of Syrian descent. For many in Syria, that practically makes him family.

That he's also a Muslim and a supporter of the Palestinian cause doesn't hurt either, and his election victory has inspired warm feelings and an outpouring of humour in the Arab world.

"I love how Syrians are now calling Zohran Mamdani our brother-in-law," wrote Karam Nachar, editor-in-chief of Al Jumhuriya, an independent Syrian media outlet.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said that a new country would be announced on Thursday night as entering the Abraham Accords that have normalized relations between Israel and Muslim-majority nations.

Witkoff told a business forum in Florida that he would be returning to Washington for the announcement, declining to say which country it would be.

(Reporting by Simon Lewis, Editing by Franklin Paul)

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -The United Nations Security Council on Thursday will start negotiations on a U.S.-drafted resolution to endorse President Donald Trump's Gaza peace plan, said a senior U.S. government official, and authorize a two-year mandate for a transitional governance body and international stabilization force.

The U.S. formally circulated the draft resolution to the 15 council members late on Wednesday and has said it has regional support from Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates for the text.

BEIRUT (Reuters) -The Israeli military carried out heavy airstrikes on southern Lebanon on Thursday after issuing evacuation orders for several locations, saying Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was trying to rebuild its military capabilities there.

The orders and strikes came despite a ceasefire deal agreed a year ago that was meant to end more than a year of fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, and after months of Lebanese army efforts to clear Hezbollah sites in the south.

Friends Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry shared the lead in the Abu Dhabi Championship after they were paired together on Thursday and both shot eight-under-par opening rounds of 64.

The pair shared the lead with New Zealander Kazuma Kobori, South African Richard Sterne and Frenchman Adrien Saddier at the start of the last event of the DP Tour before the season-ending World Championship in Dubai.

Lowry and Fleetwood, both previous winners of the event, were drawn in a group that also included a third Ryder Cup player Rasmus Hojgaard.