A convicted Swedish jihadist went on trial in Stockholm on Wednesday accused of war crimes for his role in the 2014 killing of a Jordanian pilot who was burned alive in Syria.

The case is considered unique as the other jihadists involved in the brutal killing, which sparked international outrage at the time, are presumed dead, according to prosecutors.

Osama Krayem, a 32-year-old Swede, is already serving long prison sentences for his role in the Paris and Brussels attacks in 2015 and 2016.

A US- and Israeli-backed group operating aid sites in Gaza pushed back the reopening of its facilites set for Thursday, as the Israeli army warned that roads leading to distribution centres were "considered combat zones".

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) closed its aid distribution centres after a string of deadly incidents near sites it operates that drew sharp condemnation from the United Nations.

Syrian singer Ishtar halted concerts when Islamist-led forces seized power nearly six months ago. She's now back on stage, but lingering fears have reshaped Damascus's nightlife scene.

Performing an international repertoire to a packed venue in the capital's Old City, she told AFP that "some bars and restaurants were closed and others had problems with licences... but thank God, today we have started to work again."

More than 1.5 million pilgrims joined Islam's most important rite under a beating sun on Wednesday, as the hajj kicked off with the Saudi hosts scrambling to avoid last year's 1,000-plus deaths in sweltering heat.

With temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), robed pilgrims slowly circled the Kaaba, the black cube at the heart of Mecca's Grand Mosque which is Islam's holiest site.

Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani condemned on Wednesday Israeli strikes in retaliation for overnight rocket fire, saying they were aimed at destabilising his country.

Israel bombed southern Syria after the military reported that two projectiles were fired into Israeli territory, with media reports saying these were the first launched from Syria since the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December.

UN Security Council members criticized the United States Wednesday after it vetoed a resolution calling for a ceasefire and unrestricted humanitarian access in Gaza, which Washington said undermined ongoing diplomacy.

It was the 15-member body's first vote on the situation since November, when the United States -- a key Israeli ally -- also blocked a text calling for an end to fighting.

Near a sprawling tent city outside Mecca, Saudi hospital staff are preparing for a flood of heat-related cases as Muslim pilgrims begin hajj this week in sweltering summer temperatures.

The Mina Emergency Hospital is one of 15 such facilities operating just a few weeks a year around the annual pilgrimage to Islam's holiest sites, which in 2024 saw more than 1,300 people die in the desert heat.

Saudi authorities hope to head off a fatal repeat of last year's pilgrimage, when temperatures reached 51.8 degrees Celsius (125 Fahrenheit).

Twenty-seven people were killed in southern Gaza on Tuesday as Israeli troops opened fire near a US-backed aid centre, with the military saying the incident was under investigation.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres decried the deaths of Palestinians seeking food aid as "unacceptable", and the world body's rights chief condemned attacks on civilians as "a war crime" following a similar shooting near the same site on Sunday.

In the heart of Cairo, a small cinema has for over a decade offered a unique space for independent film in a country whose industry is largely dominated by commercial considerations.

Zawya, meaning "perspective" in Arabic, has weathered the storm of Egypt's economic upheavals, championing a more artistic approach from the historical heart of the country's golden age of cinema.

Zawya was born in the post-revolutionary artistic fervour of the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime president Hosni Mubarak.

On Beirut's chaotic, car-choked streets, Lebanese student Fatima Fakih rides a shiny purple bus to university, one of a fleet rolled out by authorities to revive public transport in a country struggling to deliver basic services.

The 19-year-old says the spacious public buses are "safer, better and more comfortable", than the informal network of private buses and minivans that have long substituted for mass transport.