US-Iran talks in Doha yield 'positive progress' as Israel delays south Lebanon withdrawal

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Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani told Lebanon's president on Thursday that Damascus had no intention of intervening militarily in his country despite US pressure to do so, according to the Lebanese presidency.

Shaibani, who also invited President Joseph Aoun to Syria, is visiting Beirut, where he met parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, for the first time.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that Syria could "take care of Hezbollah", criticising Israel's strategy in its war with the Iran-backed group.

But Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who came to power in December 2024 after leading a coalition that toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, has stated that he has no intention of intervening or reopening old wounds.

Shaibani told Aoun he wanted "to clear up the confusion sparked by reports of a potential Syrian military intervention in Lebanon", adding that "Syria had no intention of undertaking such a move", the presidency said in a statement.

Pro-Israel Republican senator Joe Wilson on Thursday described Israel's ongoing aggression against Syria "deeply disturbing" and called for an immediate halt to the offensive.

"As the founder of the Republican Israel Caucus, I have been a friend of Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu throughout my career. Israel’s continuing aggressive operations in Syria are deeply disturbing, especially in recent days, including bombing and taking more Syrian cities," he wrote on X.

"Israel’s actions in Syria are counterproductive and harmful to the interests of Israel," he said. 

"Taking Syrian land and attacking Syrian cities will hurt Israel in the long term and need to end immediately."

A truck hired by the United Nations in Sudan was hit in a drone attack, destroying 50 tonnes of aid supplies for people enduring war, the world body said Thursday.

Sudan has been mired since April 2023 in a brutal war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The conflict has killed tens of thousands and forced millions to flee, according to the UN. More than 12 million people have been displaced from their homes.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said the drone attack on the truck happened Wednesday in West Darfur state, according to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

The driver of the truck was not hurt but 50 metric tonnes of relief material was destroyed, he said.

It included blankets, jerrycans, kitchen sets, sleeping mats, plastic sheets and solar lamps.

The death toll from Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza has climbed to 73,074, Gaza's health ministry said in its daily bulletin on Thursday.

Another 173,537 have been wounded since the war started on 7 October 2023.

Meanwhile, the number of people killed since the "ceasefire" came into force on 10 October 2025 has reached 1,059, with another 3,429 injured, the ministry said.

Seven people were wounded on Thursday after an Israeli drone targeted a motorcycle in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting.

Lebanon's state-run news agency is reporting an Israeli drone strike near a hospital in southern Lebanon.

The strike took place near the Ghandour Hospital in Nabatieh al-Fawqa, according to the National News Agency.

A Kurdish opposition group said Thursday that six of its fighters were killed in clashes with the Revolutionary Guards in western Iran near the border with Iraqi Kurdistan.

"Six Peshmerga were martyred" in fighting on Wednesday night near the village of Qazqapan, three kilometres from the city of Piranshahr, the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) said on X.

The PDKI is one of several Kurdish rebel groups that have camps and bases in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region and maintain a clandestine presence in Kurdish-majority western Iran, including Piranshahr.

During the Middle East war, Iran repeatedly struck those groups, including the PDKI, inside Iraqi Kurdistan.

Iran designates the groups as terrorist organisations and accuses them of serving Western or Israeli interests.

At the start of the war, media reports suggested that Iranian Kurdish groups might collaborate with the US, but Tehran threatened to target "all facilities" in Iraq's Kurdistan if militants crossed the border.

Many rebels said they hoped for an uprising in Iran prior to any intervention.

The death toll in the Damascus cafe explosion rises to six people, with 22 others injured, according to the Syrian health ministry.

An Israeli drone strike injured at least six people after targeting a motorcycle near a mosque in Gaza's Nuseirat camp, according to Palestinian media.

Turkish authorities on Thursday detained a comedian whose stand-up routine drew complaints that it insulted religious values after it was widely viewed online.

Deniz Goktas was detained for questioning at Istanbul’s main airport on his return from a trip abroad, the state-run Anadolu agency reported, days after prosecutors launched an investigation into possible charges of “publicly insulting religious values.”

The comedian’s show, recorded in Istanbul last month, was uploaded to YouTube and drew millions of views in Turkey. The pro-government newspaper Sabah said dozens of viewers were offended by jokes on religion and filed complaints against the comedian, prompting the investigation.

Sabah and other media published a photograph showing the 32-year-old comedian at the airport being escorted by a police officer.