Experts from the U.S. Air Force are looking at ways to upgrade Cyprus’ premier air base for use as a humanitarian staging post in future operations in the Middle East, a Cypriot official told The Associated Press Thursday.

The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor announced Thursday he is seeking arrest warrants for the leader of the Taliban and another senior regime official over their alleged persecution of women and girls in Afghanistan.

Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat visited Lebanon on Thursday for the first time in a decade following years of strained relations between the oil-rich kingdom and the small Mediterranean country.

The Alawites, a Shiite offshoot that makes up around 10% of the population, served as the backbone of the former government’s military and intelligence command. Many Syrians blame Alawites for participating in atrocities, and now Alawites whisper of vigilante reprisals.

The outgoing and incoming occupants of the White House simultaneously pushed to free dozens of hostages in Gaza and bring an end to a conflict that began with the killing of about 1,200 in Israel and that Palestinian health officials say has killed more than 47,000 in Gaza.

President Donald Trump’s executive order this week suspending the U.S. refugee admissions program has left in limbo tens of thousands of Afghans who were hoping to start new lives in America.

It appeared to be the first time the Israeli military said it struck targets in Gaza since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began. Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinians were trapped in a hospital by an Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank that has killed at least 10 people in two days.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have released the 25-person crew of the Galaxy Leader, a vehicle carrier seized in November 2023 at the start of their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea corridor. The rebels said Wednesday they released the sailors after mediation by Oman.

A militant resistance group, the National Mobilization Front, took responsibility for the killing, saying the man was working with Taliban intelligence. Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said the Chinese man was working for a mining company. Chinese firms have sought to pursue opportunities in Afghanistan’s vast, undeveloped resource deposits.

The Taliban won’t return any of the military equipment left behind by the U.S. troops while exiting Afghanistan in 2021, a person familiar with the matter said, as relations between Kabul and the Donald Trump administration start on a wobbly note.