Iraqi forces launched an operation on Thursday to clear the desert bordering Syria of Islamic State in a final push to rid Iraq of the militant group, the military said.

Qatar took the final step on Wednesday to start litigation at the World Trade Organization in its row with the United Arab Emirates, but no other WTO members spoke up in support of the move, which many trade experts see as a dangerous precedent.

Lebanon's Saad al-Hariri said on Wednesday he would hold off presenting his resignation as prime minister in response to a request from President Michel Aoun to allow more dialogue.

A request by the United Arab Emirates central bank for local banks and finance companies to provide details of the accounts of 19 Saudi Arabian citizens was just an information-gathering exercise, the central bank governor told reporters on Wednesday.

The United Nations said on Tuesday it had accepted a proposal from Iraq to pay 0.5 percent of its 2018 oil proceeds toward compensation for $4.6 billion owed to Kuwait for destruction of its oil facilities during the 1990-91 Gulf War occupation.

Yemen's Sanaa airport, damaged in an air strike by a Saudi-led coalition last week, has been repaired and is ready to receive international flights, the Houthi-led government which runs the capital city said on Tuesday.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday Islamic State had been defeated from a military perspective but he would only declare final victory after IS militants were routed in the desert.

Saad al-Hariri returned to Beirut on Tuesday for the first time since he resigned as Lebanon's prime minister in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia and plunged his country into political crisis.

Saudi authorities said Monday they had detected an "advanced" cyber attack targeting the kingdom, in a fresh attempt by hackers to disrupt government computers.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday to discuss regional security, Saudi state news agency SPA reported.

Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government on Monday called on the international community to intervene and help lift sanctions imposed by the central government in Baghdad in retaliation for a September referendum on Kurdish independence.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani declared the end of Islamic State on Tuesday while a senior military commander thanked the "thousands of martyrs" killed in operations organized by Iran to defeat the militant group in Syria and Iraq.

The head of Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah on Monday flatly denied Arab accusations his group had sent weapons to conflict-ridden regional countries, while celebrating his fighters' military wins abroad.

At least 530 people were killed in Iran’s deadliest earthquake in more than a decade, state news agency IRNA reported on Tuesday, adding that more than 8,000 others were injured.

Iraq’s Supreme Federal Court ruled on Monday that the Sept. 25 Kurdish independence referendum was unconstitutional and the results void, a court spokesman said.

Iran does not have a problem obtaining financing for its aircraft deals and the delivery of purchased aircraft is on track, its deputy transport minister Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan said on Saturday, according to state media.

Saudi Arabia and other Arab foreign ministers criticized Iran and its Lebanese Shi‘ite ally Hezbollah at an emergency meeting in Cairo on Sunday, calling for a united front to counter Iranian interference.

An Israeli cabinet minister said on Sunday that Israel has had covert contacts with Saudi Arabia amid common concerns over Iran, a first disclosure by a senior official from either country of long-rumoured secret dealings.

French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Saad Hariri for talks Saturday, an AFP reporter said, hours after the Lebanese premier arrived from Saudi Arabia in the midst of a political crisis.

President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that Iran misunderstood France's "balanced" position in the region, which centered on not taking sides between Sunni and Shi‘ites, adding that Tehran should be less aggressive in the region. Speaking in Gothenburg, Macron said he wanted Iran to clarify the strategy around its ballistic missile program.