SINGAPORE, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has dwindled to 33 vessels from Monday to Thursday this week, data showed, versus 50 in the week-ago period, as markets watched talks between Iran and Oman for signs of progress in reopening the key waterway.

Four vessels transited the strait on Thursday, including a very large crude carrier, Nissos Kea, carrying about 2 million barrels of Basrah crude loaded in Iraq, Kpler data showed.

Of the rest, two were laden with liquefied petroleum gas and one was a minor bulk carrier.

By Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - With President Donald Trump’s war against Iran now in its sixth month, this week's flurry of threats and diplomacy has underscored the ever-tighter bind he finds himself in as he tries to extricate the U.S. from an unpopular conflict he originally claimed would last just weeks.

In Syria's first post-Assad parliament, women lawmakers stand out more for their diversity than their numbers: a famous actress, a Christian engineer, a Kurdish leader and the widow of a hardline Islamist commander.

Women hold 22 of the 207 current seats in Syria's parliament, or just over 10 percent, similar to the previous assembly under longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, who was toppled by an Islamist alliance in 2024 after more than a decade of civil war.

WASHINGTON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday told reporters that he believed the war with Iran would be over soon and said the armed forces were experiencing issues with supplies of some weapons.

"I think it's going to end pretty soon. I don't think they can go much longer," Trump said in the Oval Office in a reference to Iran.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that the U.S. Army had used up much of its global stockpile of highly accurate long-range missiles during its five-month war with Iran.

Aug 6 (Reuters) - Oman is sending response teams to the Caroline Bezengi, an oil tanker stranded near the Hallaniyat Islands off the southern governorate of Dhofar, to limit any potential environmental impact, Omani state media reported on Thursday.

The sanctioned ship was loaded with Russian crude prior to the voyage, shipping data showed. An oil spill from the 274-meter (900-foot) vessel has been spreading, raising concern about damage to coastal areas and sea life.

At least two people were killed and 13 wounded after a bomb planted on a minibus exploded on Thursday in a Syrian town home to Druze and Christian communities near capital Damascus, state media reported, citing the health ministry.

At the blast site in the town of Jaramana, a suburb of Damascus, a minibus had its roof blown out, with the chassis wrecked from the inside and debris strewn across the road, AFP images showed. 

ISTANBUL, Aug 6 (Reuters) - The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and several other countries on Thursday strongly condemned what they described as ongoing Israeli violations in the Gaza Strip, including attacks on healthcare facilities, medical infrastructure and civilian infrastructure.

In a joint statement also signed by the foreign ministers of Qatar, Jordan, Pakistan and Indonesia, they condemned the continued loss of civilian lives in Gaza.

By Rohith Nair

Aug 5 (Reuters) - FIFA apologised to its members for mistakes made over its abandoned proposal to sell commercial rights to the World Cup as the body's leadership reaffirmed its support for President Gianni Infantino after a crisis meeting in Morocco on Wednesday.

The proposal to sell a 20% stake in a new commercial rights entity to private investors in a deal that would have raised about $4.2 billion provoked a fierce backlash and was withdrawn last Friday.

Aug 6 (Reuters) - An Iranian parliamentary committee is reviewing a preliminary bill that would bar U.S., Israeli and other "hostile" vessels from transiting the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported, citing a lawmaker.

The draft bill would impose fines of up to 20% of a ship's cargo value for violations of the proposed restrictions.

The lawmaker said the legislation was still under expert review and that parliament had invited specialists to submit recommendations before the draft is finalised.

Hundreds of unaccompanied children are at risk of abuse and exploitation as they sleep rough on the streets of Ceuta after taking part in the mass migrant entry into the Spanish territory a week ago, aid groups warned Thursday.

Although most of the crowds of migrants have returned across the border to Morocco, authorities are struggling to find shelter for Moroccan children remaining in the Spanish enclave, who cannot be summarily deported.