Mena Today

Pakistan will host Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt for talks from Sunday on the Iran war as Islamabad positions itself as a potential venue for U.S.-Iran negotiations on the month-old conflict.

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Friday they were ready to intervene militarily if other countries joined the United States and Israel in their war against Iran, or if the Red Sea was used to launch attacks on the Islamic Republic.

Israel has said it will seize a chunk of southern Lebanon to create a "buffer zone" against Hezbollah militants, stoking fears among Lebanese of Israeli military occupation that could deepen instability and stoke further displacement.

Iran's response to a U.S. peace proposal aimed at ending the war in the Middle East is expected later on Friday, according to a source briefed on the matter.

The Israeli military announced Friday the discovery of an active Hezbollah tunnel network beneath a church in Khiam, a town in southern Lebanon where fierce fighting continues. 

Gulf Arab states are telling the U.S. that any deal with Tehran should do more than end the war, and must permanently curb Iran's missile and drone capabilities and ensure global energy supplies are never again "weaponised", four Gulf sources said.

Myanmar's military leadership is set for a reshuffle following an annual armed forces parade on Friday, state media reported, in a rare public signalling of transition by the secretive institution that has dominated the Southeast Asian nation

Iran’s men's national soccer team wore black armbands and held schoolbags as their anthem played ahead of a match in Turkey on Friday in what a team official said was a protest over the killing of schoolgirls on the first day of the Iran war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Friday the signing of a landmark defense cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia, sealed ahead of his meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh. 

Ukraine is close to clinching several security agreements — including with the UAE and Qatar — to counter Iranian attacks, its foreign minister said on Friday, adding that he saw scope to draw China into peace efforts to end the war with Russia.

Defense Minister Israel Katz announced Friday that the Israeli military will expand and intensify its strikes against Iran in direct response to Tehran's continued missile bombardment of Israeli civilians.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will receive Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa at the Chancellery in Berlin on Monday, a German government spokesman announced Friday.