In Rare Visit, UAE's Foreign Minister Meets Assad In Damascus

The military said Israeli warplanes fired missiles while flying over neighboring Lebanon.

It claimed that Syrian air defenses shot down most of the Israeli missiles without elaborating.

The strikes came amid an increase in reported attacks by Israel on Syria in recent weeks.

Israel has staged hundreds of strikes on Iran-linked military targets in Syria over the years but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations.

Israel has acknowledged, however, that it is targeting bases of Iran-allied groups, such as the powerful Lebanese militant Hezbollah group. Iran has been involved in the Syrian war since 2011, deploying its own Revolutionary Guard and Afghan, Iraqi and other militias.

Israel says an Iranian presence on its northern frontier is a red line, and it has repeatedly struck what it has described as Iran-linked facilities and weapons convoys destined for Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group.

There are no independent or other reports about possible militia casualties.

Last week, security officials said at least 200 fighters were killed in clashes between Yemen's government forces and Houthi rebels in and around the strategic central province of Marib over two days.

Most of the casualties belonged to the Houthi forces, who have recently wrestled from their rivals most of Marib's 14 districts, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

The Houthis have for years attempted to take oil-rich Marib to complete their control over the northern half of Yemen.

The kingdom is leading a military coalition that has been fighting on the government side against the Houthis.

Yemen has been convulsed by civil war since 2014 when the Houthis captured the capital, Sanaa, and much of the north of the country, forcing the internationally recognized government to flee to the south, then to Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi-led coalition entered the war in March 2015, backed by the United States, to try to restore the government to power.

Despite a relentless air campaign and ground fighting, the war has deteriorated largely into a stalemate and spawned the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The crisis emerged following comments by Lebanon's information minister, who is close to Iran-backed Hezbollah, criticizing the war in Yemen that a Saudi-led coalition is waging against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

Arab League official Hossam Zaki said his visit was "an initiative to put the crisis on the right track."

Zaki, the league's deputy chief, told reporters after meeting Lebanese President Michel Aoun that he was ready to visit Saudi Arabia but that some tangible moves to ease the crisis have to be felt first.

Lebanon has said that Information Minister George Kordahi's remarks about Yemen, aired in late October, do not represent official government views.

Zaki later Monday also met Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and parliament speaker Nabih Berri.

The spat has threatened to destabilize Mikati's government, formed in September after a 13-month deadlock between rival Lebanese groups.

Mikati has urged Kordahi to "do what needs to be done" — an apparent appeal for him to step down but the minister has so far refused to apologize or resign.

Saudi Arabia has withdrawn its ambassador from Beirut and asked the Lebanese envoy to leave the kingdom.

Report by AP

Saeed Khatibzadeh, spokesman of the ministry in his weekly briefing told reporters that Saudi Arabia should refrain from media comments on the talks. Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud told CNBC on October 30 that talks with Iran have not stopped but have made no “solid progress”.

Iran and Saudi Arabia began talks in April, reportedly with Iraqi mediation to reduce tensions and possibly restore diplomatic relations severed since January 2016.

Iran initially made optimistic assessments of the talks but later Saudi Arabia presented a more cautious picture, which appears to have annoyed Tehran.

The hardline government of President Ebrahim Raisi has pledged to improve relations with regional countries, as the United States and its European allies have raised the issue of Tehran’s aggressive behavior in the region and have said they expect Tehran to hold talks about its regional policies.

Saudi Arabia has indicated that Iran might be interested in holding talks to ward off Western pressure.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a phone call told Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi on Sunday he strongly condemned an attack on his home in Baghdad, Johnson's office said.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman also said he strongly condemns the failed assassination on al-Kadhimi.

Kadhimi escaped unharmed in an assassination attempt by armed drone in Baghdad, officials said on Sunday, an incident that raised tension in the country weeks after a general election disputed by Iran-backed militia groups.

"He strongly condemned the attack on the prime minister’s home in Baghdad and offered his sympathies to those injured," Johnson's office.

"He made clear that the UK stands by the Iraqi people and supports Prime Minister Khadimi’s efforts to form a government following elections, which is vital for the long-term stability of Iraq."

Earlier on Sunday foreign secretary Liz Truss said Britain supported Kadhimi's call for calm and restraint.