The first hint that something was amiss came in a letter.

The Saudi-led military coalition fighting against Yemen's Houthi movement will allow the resumption of international commercial flights to the country, a Yemeni government minister said, easing its nationwide blockade.

The Saudi-led coalition is still blocking desperately-needed UN aid deliveries to Yemen despite the re-opening of the port of Aden and of a land border crossing, a UN spokesman said Friday.

Qatar has appointed women to one of its most important consultative bodies, the Shura Council, for the first time in the country’s history, according to a royal decree announced on Nov. 9.

Three Gulf states advised their citizens against traveling to Lebanon on Thursday and asked those already there to leave as soon as possible, amid rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran over Lebanon and Yemen.

French President Emmanuel Macron held talks with Saudi Arabia's powerful crown prince as tensions between Tehran and Riyadh soar over crisis in Yemen and Lebanon.

At a hospital in the Yemeni city of Marib, demand for artificial limbs from victims of the country’s war is so high that prosthetics are made on site in a special workshop.

Syria’s army declared victory over Islamic State on Thursday, saying its capture of the jihadists’ last town in the country marked the collapse of their three-year, hardline reign in the in the region.

Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc called on Saudi Arabia on Thursday to stop interfering in Lebanese affairs after Lebanon’s prime minister quit in a weekend broadcast from the kingdom.

A Hezbollah-run media unit said on Friday Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was reported to have been in the Syrian town of Albu Kamal during the Syrian army and its allies’ operation to clear it.

Lebanon believes Saad al-Hariri is being held in Saudi Arabia, from where he resigned as Lebanese prime minister, two top government officials in Beirut said, amid a deepening crisis pushing Lebanon onto the frontlines of a power struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

King Salman has appointed or promoted 56 judges, Saudi Arabia’s state news agency SPA reported on Thursday, a step coinciding with an anti-corruption crackdown in the kingdom.

Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch will visit Saudi Arabia next week and has received “a positive response” from Saudi officials over the possibility of meeting with Saad al-Hariri, who resigned as prime minister, his spokesman said.

Saudi Arabia’s attorney-general said today that 208 people have been called in for questioning in a sweeping anti-corruption investigation, and seven of them had been released without charge.

France’s foreign ministry on Friday nuanced comments made earlier by its minister, suggesting that former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri may not be free and urging that he continue to play his rightful role in the country.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s recent political purge raises concerns and remains unclear but does not appear to amount to mass arrests, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters on Friday.

French President Emmanuel Macron held hastily scheduled talks in Riyadh on Thursday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman amid rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, notably over Lebanon and Yemen.

Saudi Arabian authorities have made further arrests in an anti-corruption crackdown on the kingdom’s political and business elite, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

Yemen is facing a mass famine that will affect millions of lives unless the Saudi-led coalition ends its blockade and allows aid deliveries into the country, the UN aid chief warned Wednesday.

Saudi Arabian authorities have made further arrests and frozen more bank accounts in an expanding anti-corruption crackdown on the kingdom’s political and business elite, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.