Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Monday picked international jurist Nawaf Salam to form a government to pull the war-scarred country out of economic crisis.

A majority of Lebanese lawmakers endorsed Salam, the presiding judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, after two years of a caretaker government.

"The president of the republic has called on Judge Nawaf Salam to task him with forming a government," the presidency said.

Salam was abroad but would return to Lebanon on Tuesday, it said.

An organisers' error in the drivers' route guide caused chaos at the Dakar Rally on Sunday as cars went off the route into the vast Saudi Arabian desert in a blunder blasted as a "disaster" by a former champion.

The roadbook error came at kilometre 158 of stage 7, a 412km loop which started and finished in Al Duawadimi, and was enough to take the leaders off course.

Losing precious time, they drove aimlessly in the desert until an organisation helicopter came to put the cars back on the right track.

Saudi Arabia on Sunday called for the lifting of sanctions on Syria after meetings with top diplomats from the Middle East and Europe that focused on the war-ravaged country's future.

The Gulf kingdom, the region's biggest economy, is seeking to increase its influence in Syria after Islamist-led rebels toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad last month, analysts say.

Syria's new ruler and Lebanon's prime minister pledged on Saturday to build lasting ties during the first visit by a Lebanese head of government to Damascus since the civil war started in 2011.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati's trip came after Islamist-led rebels seized Damascus last month, bringing an end to the rule of Bashar al-Assad.

Previous Lebanese governments refrained from visits to Syria amid tensions at home over militant group Hezbollah's support for Assad during the conflict.

Belgian Guillaume de Mevius claimed stage six behind the wheel of a Mini as the Dakar Rally resumed on Saturday after a rest day.

Defending bike champion Ricky Brabec took the honours on two wheels, the Honda rider coming in ahead of Adrien Van Beveren and Jose Ignacio Cornejo after the 605km special from Hail to Al Duwadimi.

It was a good day for the Mini team with De Mevius followed home by his Portuguese teammate Joao Ferreira, with five-time champion Nasser Al-Attiyah in third.

Sudanese paramilitary leader Mohamed Hamdan Daglo said Saturday his Rapid Support Forces had "lost" key Al-Jazira state capital Wad Madani, as the military and allied armed groups entered the city after more than a year of paramilitary control.

Government officials loyal to the army have hailed the recapture of the city, which RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo vowed to regain.

"Today we lost a round, we did not lose the battle", Daglo said in an audio address Saturday evening, promising "victory" to his troops.

The fall of Russian ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria has disrupted the Kremlin's strategy not only for the Mediterranean but also for Africa, pushing it to focus on Libya as a potential foothold, experts say.

Russia runs a military port and an air base on the Syrian coast, designed to facilitate its operations in the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and sub-Saharan Africa, especially the Sahel, Sudan, and the Central African Republic.

However, this model is in jeopardy with the abrupt departure of the Syrian ruler.

In Syria's third city Homs, members of ousted president Bashar al-Assad's Alawite community say they are terrified as new authorities comb their districts for "remnants of the regime", arresting hundreds.

In central Homs, the marketplace buzzes with people buying fruit and vegetables from vendors in bombed-out buildings riddled with bullet holes.

But at the entrance to areas where the city's Alawite minority lives, armed men in fatigues have set up roadblocks and checkpoints.

Israel struck Huthi targets in Yemen on Friday, including a power station and coastal ports, in response to missile and drone launches, as it warned it would hunt down the group's leaders.

Since the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023, the Iran-backed Yemeni rebel group has fired dozens of missiles and drones at Israel in what it says is a show of solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Israel's latest strikes came after the military intercepted two drones believed to have been launched from Yemen on Thursday.

Batoul Bsharat was playing with her eight-year-old brother Reda in their village in the occupied West Bank. Moments later an Israeli drone strike killed him and two of their cousins.

"It was the first time in our lives that we played without arguing. It meant so much to me," the 10-year-old said as she sat on the concrete ledge outside the family home in the northern village of Tammun where they had been playing on Wednesday.

At her feet, a crater no wider than two fists marked where the missile hit.