Iraqi PM Urges Trump to 'Work Towards Ending' Mideast Wars

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. (Reuters)
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. (Reuters)
TT

Iraqi PM Urges Trump to 'Work Towards Ending' Mideast Wars

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. (Reuters)
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. (Reuters)

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani expressed hopes during a phone call with US President-elect Donald Trump that he would keep his "promises to work towards ending wars" in the Middle East.

In the phone call, the Iraqi premier pointed to Trump's "campaign statements and promises to work towards ending wars in the region", a statement from Sudani's office said late Friday.

"The two sides agreed to coordinate efforts in achieving this goal," it added, AFP reported.

About 2,500 American troops are deployed in Iraq as part of a US-led coalition that was formed to help battle ISIS.

Bases hosting the American troops have been the target of dozens of rocket and drone attacks launched by Iran-backed groups in Iraq, which have also claimed attacks against Israel.

Baghdad has for years called on Washington to provide a clear timeline for the withdrawal of their remaining coalition troops.

The US and Iraq announced in late September that the international coalition would end its decade-long military mission in federal Iraq within a year, and by September 2026 in the autonomous Kurdistan region.

But the joint statement and US officials did not say whether any American troops would remain in Iraq.

Under Trump's first term in office, relations deteriorated between the two countries after a US drone strike in January 2020 killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani -- the chief of the Quds Force and the architect of the Islamic republic's military operations abroad.

Also killed in that strike was Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of Iraq's former paramilitary Hashed al-Shaabi that have been integrated into the armed forces.

As part of their investigations into Muhandis's assassination, the Iraqi judiciary issued a warrant for Trump's arrest in January 2021.



Zelensky Arrives in Damascus for Talks with Syrian President

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, September 2025 (Ukrainian President’s account)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, September 2025 (Ukrainian President’s account)
TT

Zelensky Arrives in Damascus for Talks with Syrian President

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, September 2025 (Ukrainian President’s account)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, September 2025 (Ukrainian President’s account)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Damascus together with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday, for talks with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, a senior official familiar with the matter told AFP.

Zelensky's plane "landed in Damascus", said the official, adding that "cooperation between countries" and the "security situation in the region" were on the agenda.

Also, two Syrian ⁠sources told Reuters ‌on ‌Sunday that Zelenskiy has made his first visit to ‌Syria ‌to ​hold ‌a ⁠meeting with ​his Syrian counterpart.

The ​talks ‌were ‌linked to defense in light ‌of the regional war, one ⁠of ⁠the sources, a government adviser, said.


Lebanese Army Says Soldier Killed in Israeli Attack in Southern Lebanon

A Lebanese army soldier inspects the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted their checkpoint in Aamriyeh, south of the coastal city of Tyre, on March 30, 2026. (Photo by KAWNAT HAJU / AFP)
A Lebanese army soldier inspects the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted their checkpoint in Aamriyeh, south of the coastal city of Tyre, on March 30, 2026. (Photo by KAWNAT HAJU / AFP)
TT

Lebanese Army Says Soldier Killed in Israeli Attack in Southern Lebanon

A Lebanese army soldier inspects the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted their checkpoint in Aamriyeh, south of the coastal city of Tyre, on March 30, 2026. (Photo by KAWNAT HAJU / AFP)
A Lebanese army soldier inspects the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted their checkpoint in Aamriyeh, south of the coastal city of Tyre, on March 30, 2026. (Photo by KAWNAT HAJU / AFP)

The Lebanese army said on Sunday that a soldier had been killed in an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon.

Meanwhile, an Israeli strike hit south Beirut on Sunday, Lebanese state media reported, with a medical source telling AFP it made impact about 100 metres away from a public hospital.

The strike hit Beirut's Jnah neighborhood near Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the largest public medical facility in the country.

Israel's military earlier warned it was carrying out strikes on Beirut.


Israeli Fire Kills Four Palestinians in Gaza, Medics Say

Palestinians inspect a vehicle targeted by an Israeli strike in Maghazi camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on April 4, 2026. (AFP)
Palestinians inspect a vehicle targeted by an Israeli strike in Maghazi camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on April 4, 2026. (AFP)
TT

Israeli Fire Kills Four Palestinians in Gaza, Medics Say

Palestinians inspect a vehicle targeted by an Israeli strike in Maghazi camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on April 4, 2026. (AFP)
Palestinians inspect a vehicle targeted by an Israeli strike in Maghazi camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on April 4, 2026. (AFP)

An Israeli airstrike ‌killed four Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, local health authorities said, in the latest violence to overshadow a fragile ceasefire amid a new push by mediators to bolster the agreement.

Medics said the airstrike targeted a group of people in Jaffa Street, near the Darraj neighborhood in Gaza City, killing four people and wounding others.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on ‌the incident.

Palestinian ‌group Hamas and Israel have ‌traded blame ⁠for violations of ⁠the ceasefire agreed last October, which halted two years of full-blown war.

The Gaza health ministry says Israeli fire has killed at least 700 people since the ceasefire began. Israel says four soldiers have been killed by gunmen in Gaza ⁠over the same period.

A Hamas delegation met ‌Egyptian, Qatari and ‌Turkish mediators in Cairo last week to give its initial ‌response to a disarmament proposal presented to the ‌group last month, two Egyptian sources and a Palestinian official said.

The group has told mediators it will not discuss giving up arms without guarantees that Israel ‌will fully quit Gaza as laid out in a disarmament plan from ⁠US President ⁠Donald Trump's "Board of Peace", three sources told Reuters on Thursday.

Hamas' disarmament is a sticking point in talks to implement Trump's plan for the Palestinian enclave and cement the ceasefire.

Hamas' October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's ensuing two-year campaign killed more than 72,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to Gazan health authorities, and has spread famine, demolished most buildings, and displaced most of the territory's population, in many cases numerous times.