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Arab World

Worship Starts Again at Al-Aqsa Mosque, Israel Approves New Settlements

Muslim women take a selfie next to the Dome of Rock shrine at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound following a ceasefire reached between Iran, Israel and the United States. in Jerusalem's Old City, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Muslim women take a selfie next to the Dome of Rock shrine at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound following a ceasefire reached between Iran, Israel and the United States. in Jerusalem's Old City, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
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Worship Starts Again at Al-Aqsa Mosque, Israel Approves New Settlements

Muslim women take a selfie next to the Dome of Rock shrine at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound following a ceasefire reached between Iran, Israel and the United States. in Jerusalem's Old City, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Muslim women take a selfie next to the Dome of Rock shrine at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound following a ceasefire reached between Iran, Israel and the United States. in Jerusalem's Old City, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Thousands of Palestinians prayed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque at dawn Thursday, according to Jerusalem’s Islamic Waqf, the Jordanian religious authority that administers the compound.

For the first time in 41 days, Muslim worshippers returned to Al-Aqsa, which had been shuttered since the start of the war sparked by the US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28.

Jerusalem’s police said Wednesday that it would lift restrictions on all holy sites in Jerusalem’s Old City starting Thursday morning. It added that hundreds of officers and volunteers would be active in the city.

Access had been prohibited altogether, or restricted to a few dozen faithful, at Christian, Jewish and Muslim sites during the now-paused conflict, when missile attacks from Iran often sent Jerusalem residents into shelters.

The restrictions subdued Lent, Passover and Ramadan celebrations for many in some of the holiest sites for adherents of Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

But they’re lifted just in time for Orthodox Christians, who celebrate Easter (Pascha) on Sunday, a week after Catholic and Protestant observances.

Suzan Allam, who came with her husband and daughter, told AFP the return to Al-Aqsa was like "a party.”

Hamza al-Afghani, a young Palestinian, spoke of an "indescribable joy.”

"Al-Aqsa mosque is Jerusalem's soul," another worshipper, who declined to share his name for security reasons, said.

Meanwhile, Israel has approved the establishment of dozens of new Jewish settlements in the West Bank, an Israeli watchdog group said on Thursday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has not formally announced the establishment of the 34 new settlements, many of them outposts in far-flung areas of the mountainous territory, the Peace Now watchdog group said in a statement.

The decision, made by the Israeli cabinet on April 1, was reported widely on Thursday by Israeli media outlets, which said Israel's military censor had approved it for publication.

The Palestinian Presidency's office condemned the plan as a "flagrant violation of international law.”

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Arab World

A Syrian Man Buries His Wife and 4 Children Killed in Israeli Strikes on Beirut

Mourners pray over the six coffins of members of the al-Jalib family, who were killed Wednesday in Israeli strikes in Beirut, during their funeral in the village of al-Sour, Deir Ezzor province, northeastern Syria, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP)
Mourners pray over the six coffins of members of the al-Jalib family, who were killed Wednesday in Israeli strikes in Beirut, during their funeral in the village of al-Sour, Deir Ezzor province, northeastern Syria, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP)
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A Syrian Man Buries His Wife and 4 Children Killed in Israeli Strikes on Beirut

Mourners pray over the six coffins of members of the al-Jalib family, who were killed Wednesday in Israeli strikes in Beirut, during their funeral in the village of al-Sour, Deir Ezzor province, northeastern Syria, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP)
Mourners pray over the six coffins of members of the al-Jalib family, who were killed Wednesday in Israeli strikes in Beirut, during their funeral in the village of al-Sour, Deir Ezzor province, northeastern Syria, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP)

A Syrian man on Saturday buried his wife and four of his five children, killed in the massive wave of Israeli strikes that pounded Beirut earlier this week, laying them to rest in Deir Ezzor province in northeastern Syria.

It was not the homecoming they had anticipated when they fled to Lebanon six years ago.

The bodies, along with that of his six-month pregnant daughter-in-law, arrived in wooden coffins on a bus from Lebanon, their names scribbled on the sides. Men stood beside the bus crying before the burial procession in al-Sour town, as mourners gathered to offer condolences.

The remains of one of his two daughters were still missing, believed to be trapped under rubble, as search operations concluded Saturday, three days after the attacks.

The strike was one of roughly 100 carried out by Israel on Wednesday without warning, targeting what the Israeli military said were Hezbollah-linked sites across Beirut and other parts of Lebanon. More than 350 people were killed that day, a third being women and children, making it the deadliest day in nearly six weeks of war.

Many of the strikes hit commercial streets and densely populated neighborhoods in central Beirut, far from conflict zones, where repeated Israeli evacuation warnings have been issued since March 2, when the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah fired missiles into Israel in retaliation for the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

The father, Hamad al-Jalib, survived because he was away fetching a gas canister while working as the building’s concierge. When he heard that a strike had hit the Ain Mreisseh neighborhood, where he lives, he rushed back, only to see a plume of smoke rising from a building behind a mosque across from Beirut’s famous seaside promenade — usually crowded with people walking and exercising.

“The Israeli attack killed my girls, they are innocent, just sitting at home,” al-Jalib said. “They were having lunch.”

He said it took rescue teams three days to extract the bodies of his family from under the rubble. “And I still have a daughter missing, her name is Fatima Hamad al-Jalib.” She is 10 years old. His other daughter was 12 while his sons were 17, 14 and 13 years old.

Three other Syrian relatives were also killed in the Ain Mreisseh strike and were buried on Saturday in the town of al-Shuhail in Deir Ezzor, after the family split upon returning to Syria.

Al-Jalib said his family had been displaced from their area and moved to Lebanon in 2020, as local tensions grew involving tribal groups and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

Syrian refugees among the dead and wounded

The casualties from Wednesday’s strikes and others across the country have pushed the death toll in more than a month of Israel’s war with Hezbollah to over 1,950 killed and more than 6,300 wounded, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The toll includes at least 315 Syrians killed and wounded.

It remains unclear how many of those killed on Wednesday were non-Lebanese, as the Health Ministry did not provide a breakdown by nationality. Officials have reported that at least 39 Syrians were among the dead.

Dalal Harb, a spokesperson for the UN refugee agency, said the family killed in Ain Mreisseh was not registered with the UNHCR. There are about 530,000 Syrians refugees registered with UNHCR in Lebanon, with hundreds of thousands more believed to be unregistered.

While hundreds of thousands of Syrians have returned from Lebanon since the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, many others remain reluctant to go back because of the lack of jobs and ongoing violence.

Al-Jalib’s brother, Jomaa, who also lived in Lebanon, said he was about 150 meters (500 feet) away at work when the first blast hit. “We ran and we ran, then the second strike happened.”

He said he was arriving at the building as it began to collapse. “It was too late to get anyone out. We yelled for them, but no one answered.”

He said ambulances later recovered the bodies, which he identified at a hospital.

Following the burial on Saturday, men stood shoulder to shoulder in prayer over the fresh graves.

Arab World

Iraq Official Says Drone Crashed near US Diplomats at Baghdad Airport

FILED - 14 March 2026, Iraq, Baghdad: A view of the damage following a reported drone strike on the US embassy in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone. Photo: Ameer Al-Mohammedawi/dpa
FILED - 14 March 2026, Iraq, Baghdad: A view of the damage following a reported drone strike on the US embassy in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone. Photo: Ameer Al-Mohammedawi/dpa
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Iraq Official Says Drone Crashed near US Diplomats at Baghdad Airport

FILED - 14 March 2026, Iraq, Baghdad: A view of the damage following a reported drone strike on the US embassy in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone. Photo: Ameer Al-Mohammedawi/dpa
FILED - 14 March 2026, Iraq, Baghdad: A view of the damage following a reported drone strike on the US embassy in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone. Photo: Ameer Al-Mohammedawi/dpa

A senior Iraqi security official told AFP that a drone crashed near a group of US diplomats inside the grounds of Baghdad's airport earlier this week as they were escorting an American journalist freed after a recent kidnapping.

The account shed light on a statement issued Thursday by the US State Department saying it had summoned Iraq's ambassador to Washington to express "strong condemnation" of attacks by pro-Iran groups on US interests, "including the April 8 ambush of US diplomats in Baghdad".

Since the war in the Middle East broke out on February 28, the US embassy in Baghdad and a logistical and diplomatic center inside the city's airport have been repeatedly targeted by rockets and drones, with most intercepted.

Pro-Iranian armed groups in Iraq have claimed daily attacks on "enemy bases" in the country and the wider region, but had said on Wednesday they were suspending their actions after the announcement of a temporary ceasefire between the US and Iran.

Hours later, however, the US embassy reported renewed drone attacks near its facility at the airport.

According to the Iraqi official, "the diplomatic support center was targeted on Wednesday by three drones".

"One of them fell at least 50 meters from a diplomatic team accompanying the American journalist Shelly Kittleson," they added.

Kittleson had been released by the powerful pro-Iranian group Kataeb Hezbollah on Tuesday, a week after she was kidnapped in Baghdad.

The attack delayed her departure from Iraq, though she was able to leave a few hours later, the source said.

Arab World

Gaza Civil Defense Says Israeli Strikes Kill Seven

Palestinians walk along a street surrounded by buildings destroyed during Israeli air and ground operations in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians walk along a street surrounded by buildings destroyed during Israeli air and ground operations in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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Gaza Civil Defense Says Israeli Strikes Kill Seven

Palestinians walk along a street surrounded by buildings destroyed during Israeli air and ground operations in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians walk along a street surrounded by buildings destroyed during Israeli air and ground operations in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Gaza's civil defense rescue service said on Saturday that Israeli airstrikes in the Palestinian territory had killed seven people overnight, despite the fragile ceasefire in place since October last year.

Mahmoud Bassal, spokesman for the group, which operates under the authority of the Hamas movement, said an Israeli drone had fired two missiles close to a police post in the Al-Bureij refugee camp.

In addition to the seven dead, he said, several more people were wounded, four of them critically.

The al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza said it had received six bodies and seven wounded, "including four in a critical condition because of direct impacts to the face, torso and other parts of the body".

The nearby al-Awda hospital said it had received one fatality and two wounded.

Reached for comment by AFP, the Israeli military said it was working to verify the information.

Israel and Hamas regularly accuse each other of violating the ceasefire that came into effect on October 10, after two years of war triggered by the Palestinian movement's 2023 cross-border attack.

At least 738 Palestinians have been killed since the truce began, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which is under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

The Israeli army has reported five soldiers killed since the start of the truce.

Under the restrictions imposed on the media in Gaza and the difficulties of accessing the field -- the international press is still barred by the Israeli authorities from entering.