Israel pounded Iran with a series of airstrikes early Saturday, saying it was targeting military targets in retaliation for the barrage of ballistic missiles the Islamic Republic fired upon Israel earlier this month. Explosions could be heard in the Iranian capital, Tehran, though there was no immediate information on damage or casualties. The attack risks pushing the archenemies closer to all-out war at a time of spiraling violence across the Middle East, where militant groups backed by Iran – including Hamas in Gaza, and Hezbollah in Lebanon – are already at war with Israel. The Israeli military said Saturday it had launched “precise strikes on military targets” and, according to two Israeli officials, it was not targeting nuclear or oil facilities. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the ongoing operation with the media. “The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since Oct. 7 ... including direct attacks from Iranian soil,” Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a prerecorded video statement early Saturday. “Like every other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and the duty to respond.” Iran prepares for huge military response amid Israeli tensions Initially, nuclear facilities and oil installations all had been seen as possible targets for Israel’s response to Iran’s Oct. 1 attack, but in mid-October the Biden administration believed it had won assurances from Israel that it would not hit such targets. Iran’s state-run media acknowledged blasts that could be heard in Tehran and said some of the sounds came from air defense systems around the city. But beyond a brief reference, Iranian state television offered no other details and even began showing what it described as live footage of men loading trucks at a vegetable market in Tehran in an attempt to downplay the assault. A Tehran resident told The Associated Press that at least seven explosions could be heard, which rattled the surrounding area. The resident spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. People in Tehran could see what appeared to be tracer fire light up the sky as the blasts could be heard. Other footage showed what appeared to be surface-to-air missiles launching up to the sky and other detonations. Iran closed the country’s airspace early Saturday, and flight-tracking data analyzed by the Associated Press showed commercial airlines had broadly left the skies over Iran, and across Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. The White House said President Joe Biden had been briefed and would continue to receive updates. In Syria, the state news agency SANA, citing an unnamed military official, reported missile fire targeting military sites in the country’s central and southern region. It said that Syria’s air defenses had shot some of the missiles down. There was no immediate information on casualties. Iran has launched two ballistic missile attacks on Israel in recent months amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip that began with the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. That initial attack killed some 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage back to the seaside enclave. In the time since, more than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to local health officials who don’t delineate between civilians and combatants. The U.N. has said hundreds of thousands of people have been trapped with little food or supplies as Israeli forces close in on the northern Gaza town of Jabaliya, while food and other aid remains scarce in the enclave. Israeli military operations in the West Bank in the time since have killed hundreds more. Israel also has launched a ground invasion of Lebanon and a series of punishing airstrikes that have rattled that country. The strike Saturday happened just as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was arriving back in the U.S. after a tour of the Middle East where he and other U.S. officials had warned Israel to tender a response that would not further escalate the conflict in the region and exclude nuclear sites in Iran. White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in a statement that “we understand that Israel is conducting targeted strikes against military targets in Iran” and referred reporters to the Israeli government for more details on their operation. Two U.S. officials said the U.S. was notified by Israel in advance of the strikes. They said there was no U.S. involvement in the operation. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing operation. Israel had vowed to hit Iran hard following a massive Iranian missile barrage on Oct. 1. Iran said its barrage was in response to deadly Israeli attacks against its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, and it has promised to respond to any retaliatory strikes. Israel and Iran have been bitter foes since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Israel considers Iran to be its greatest threat, citing its leaders’ calls for Israel’s destruction, their support for anti-Israel militant groups and the country’s nuclear program. Israel and Iran have been locked in a yearslong shadow war. A suspected Israeli assassination campaign has killed top Iranian nuclear scientists. Iranian nuclear installations have been hacked or sabotaged, all in mysterious attacks blamed on Israel. Meanwhile, Iran has been blamed for a series of attacks on shipping in the Middle East in recent years, which later grew into the attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on shipping through the Red Sea corridor. But since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, the battle has increasingly moved into the open. Israel has recently turned its attention to Hezbollah, which has been firing rockets into Israel since the war in Gaza began. Throughout the year, a number of top Iranian military figures have been killed in Israeli strikes in Syria and Lebanon. Iran fired a wave of missiles and drones at Israel last April after two Iranian generals were killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike in Syria on an Iranian diplomatic post. The missiles and drones caused minimum damage, and Israel — under pressure from Western countries to show restraint — responded with a limited strike. But after Iran’s early October missile strike, Israel promised a tougher response. Meanwhile Friday, Israeli strikes on residential areas in southern Gaza killed 38 people, including 13 children from the same extended family, Palestinian health officials said. In northern Gaza, health officials reported that Israeli forces had raided Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the few medical facilities still functioning in the area. Israel has renewed its offensive against Hamas in the north in recent weeks, and aid groups are sounding the alarm over dire humanitarian conditions. In Lebanon, Israeli strikes on the country’s southeast killed three journalists working for news outlets that are considered to be aligned with Hezbollah.  

Saudi Arabia is in talks with Syria to reopen its embassy in the war-torn nation for the first time in a decade, state television in the kingdom reported late Thursday, the latest diplomatic reshuffling in the region. The announcement on state TV comes after Chinese-mediated talks in Beijing saw Saudi Arabia and Iran agree to reopen embassies in each others' nations after years of tensions. Syrian President Bashar Assad has maintained his grip on power in the Mediterranean nation rocked by the 2011 Arab Spring only with the help of Iran and Russia, which made a historic call earlier in the day to Oman. Saudi Arabian state television aired a report late Thursday, quoting an anonymous official in the country's Foreign Ministry, acknowledging the talks between the kingdom and Damascus. “A source in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed to Al-Ekhbariyah that ongoing discussions have begun with the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, commenting on what was circulated by some international media,” an anchor said on air. “Discussions are underway between officials in the kingdom and their counterparts in Syria about resuming the provision of consular services.” Reuters first reported on the talks Thursday, spurring the Saudi state TV announcement. The Wall Street Journal, quoting anonymous Saudi and Syrian officials, later attributed the talks to reopen the countries' embassies to Russian mediation. Syrian state media did not immediately acknowledge the talks. Officials in both Saudi Arabia and Syria did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press early Friday. Earlier Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin called Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, which the Kremlin called the “the first high-level bilateral contact since the establishment of diplomatic relations" between the nations. Muscat established ties with the Soviet Union in 1985. Oman long has been an interlocutor between the West and Iran. Recent months have seen talks in Oman over Yemen's long-running war, in which Saudi Arabia backs the country's exiled government against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels that hold its capital, Sanaa. Read more: Iran, Saudi Arabia agree to resume relations after tensions The kingdom backed the Syrian opposition against Assad during Syria’s uprising-turned-civil war that began in 2011. However, in recent years, a regional rapprochement has been brewing. Last month’s devastating earthquake in Syria and Turkey sparked international sympathy and speeded up the process, with Saudi and other Arab countries shipping aid to Damascus. Assad visited Oman in late February. He traveled Sunday to the United Arab Emirates, another nation that earlier had backed fighters trying to topple his government. Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister has acknowledged publicly that there is a growing consensus among Arab countries that dialogue with Damascus is necessary. Saudi Arabia is hosting the next Arab League summit in May, where most states hope to restore Syria’s membership after it was suspended in 2011, the league’s secretary-general, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, has said. China's and Russia's interest in the Middle East long has been a concern for U.S. officials, which view the the region as crucial to global energy prices even as America pumps more crude oil than ever before and doesn't rely on Saudi oil as much as it once did. Saudi Arabia has grown closer to Russia as Moscow has rallied allies to back production cuts by OPEC to boost global oil prices amid the coronavirus pandemic. Relations between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia also have been at a low since President Joe Biden took office calling the kingdom a “pariah” over the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. The State Department and White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Read more: Bangladesh welcomes renewed ties between Iran, Saudi Arabia: Momen

Temperatures in the Middle East have risen far faster than the world’s average in the past three decades. Precipitation has been decreasing, and experts predict droughts will come with greater frequency and severity. The Middle East is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to the impact of climate change — and already the effects are being seen. In Iraq, intensified sandstorms have repeatedly smothered cities this year, shutting down commerce and sending thousands to hospitals. Rising soil salinity in Egypt’s Nile Delta is eating away at crucial farmland. In Afghanistan, drought has helped fuel the migration of young people from their villages, searching for jobs. In recent weeks, temperatures in some parts of the region have topped 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit). This year’s annual U.N. climate change conference, known as COP27, is being held in Egypt in November, throwing a spotlight on the region. Governments across the Middle East have awakened to the dangers of climate change, particularly to the damage it is already inflicting on their economies. “We’re literally seeing the effects right in front of us. ... These impacts are not something that will hit us nine or 10 years down the line,” said Lama El Hatow, an environmental climate change consultant who has worked with the World Bank and specializes on the Middle East and North Africa. “More and more states are starting to understand that it’s necessary” to act, she said. Read: Biden says US ‘will not walk away’ from Middle East Egypt, Morocco and other countries in the region have been stepping up initiatives for clean energy. But a top priority for them at COP-27 is to push for more international funding to help them deal with the dangers they are already facing from climate change. One reason for the Middle East’s vulnerability is that there is simply no margin to cushion the blow on millions of people as the rise in temperatures accelerates: The region already has high temperatures and limited water resources even in normal circumstances. Middle East governments also have a limited ability to adapt, the International Monetary Fund noted in a report earlier this year. Economies and infrastructure are weak, and regulations are often unenforced. Poverty is widespread, making job creation a priority over climate protection. Autocratic governments like Egypt’s severely restrict civil society, hampering an important tool in engaging the public on environmental and climate issues. At the same time, developing nations are pressuring countries in the Mideast and elsewhere to make emissions cuts, even as they themselves backslide on promises. The threats are dire. As the region grows hotter and drier, the United Nations has warned that the Mideast’s crop production could drop 30% by 2025. The region is expected to lose 6%-14% of its GDP by 2050 because of water scarcity, according to the World Bank. In Egypt, precipitation has fallen 22% in the past 30 years, according to the World Bank. Droughts are expected to become more frequent and severe. The Eastern Mediterranean recently saw its worst drought in 900 years, according to NASA, a heavy blow to countries like Syria and Lebanon where agriculture relies on rainfall. Demand for water in Jordan and the Persian Gulf countries is putting unsustainable pressure on underground water aquifers. In Iraq, the increased aridity has caused an increase in sandstorms. At the same time, warming waters and air make extreme and often destructive weather events more frequent, like deadly floods that have repeatedly hit Sudan and Afghanistan. The climate damage has potentially dangerous social repercussions. Many of those who lose the livelihoods they once made in agriculture or tourism will move to the cities in search of jobs, said Karim Elgendy, an associate fellow at Chatham House. That will likely increase urban unemployment, strain social services and could raise social tensions and affect security, said Elgendy, who is also a non-resident scholar with the Middle East Institute. Adapting infrastructure and economies to weather the damage will be enormously expensive: the equivalent of 3.3% of the region’s GDP every year for the next 10 years, the IMF estimates. The spending needs to go toward everything from creating more efficient water use systems and new agricultural methods to building coastal protections, beefing up social safety nets and improving awareness campaigns. Read: Palestinians: Israeli forces kill 2 in West Bank gun battle So one of top priorities for Mideast and other developing nations at this year’s COP is to press the United States, Europe and other wealthier nations to follow through on long-time promises to provide them with billions in climate financing. So far, developed nations have fallen short on those promises. Also, most of the money they have provided has gone to helping poorer countries pay for reducing greenhouse gas emissions — for “mitigation,” in U.N. terminology, as opposed to “adaptation.” For this year’s COP, the top theme repeated by U.N. officials, the Egyptian hosts and climate activists is the implementation of commitments. The gathering aims to push countries to spell out how they will reach promised emission reduction targets — and to come up with even deeper cuts, since experts say the targets as they are now will still lead to disastrous levels of warming. Developing nations will also want richer countries to show how they will carry out a promise from the last COP to provide $500 billion in climate financing over the next five years — and to ensure at least half that funding is for adaptation, not mitigation. World events, however, threaten to undercut the momentum from COP26. On emissions cuts, the spike in world energy prices and the war in Ukraine have prompted some European countries to turn back to coal for power generation — though they insist it’s only a temporary step. The Middle East also has several countries whose economies rely on their fossil fuel resources — Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf most obviously, but also Egypt, with its increasing natural gas production. Persistent inflation and the possibility of recession could make top nations hesitant on making climate financing commitments. With international officials often emphasizing emission reduction, El Hatow said it should be remembered the countries of Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere in the developing world have not contributed substantially to climate change, yet are bearing the brunt of it. “We need to talk about financing for adaptation,” she said, “to adapt to a problem they did not cause.”

Before stepping foot in Saudi Arabia, President Joe Biden knew there would be trouble. Biden was risking criticism by visiting a country he had vowed to make a “pariah” for human rights abuses, and there was no guarantee the visit would immediately yield higher oil production to offset rising gas prices. He decided to face the blowback anyway, hoping to use the visit to repair strained ties and make clear to wary Arab leaders that the United States remains committed to their security and the region’s stability. His visit to Saudi Arabia was occasionally uncomfortable but, in Biden's view, ultimately necessary. Although he's been focused on confronting Russia's invasion of Ukraine and limiting China's expanding influence in Asia, those goals become far more difficult without the partnerships that he was tending to here. Read: Biden says US ‘will not walk away’ from Middle East “It is only becoming clearer to me how closely interwoven America’s interests are with the successes of the Middle East,” the president said Saturday at a summit in the Red Sea city of Jeddah. It was a belated recognition of geopolitical reality that, for nearly a century, has kept the United States deeply invested in the energy-rich region, most recently with ruinous wars that stretched over two decades. Biden tried to turn the page on those conflicts while insisting that the U.S. would remain engaged. “We will not walk away and leave a vacuum to be filled by China, Russia or Iran,” Biden said. “We will seek to build on this moment with active, principled, American leadership.” The summit, where Biden announced $1 billion in U.S. funding to alleviate hunger in the region, was the final destination on Biden's four-day trip, which included stops in Israel and the West Bank. His travels were shadowed by a steady stream of grim news from Washington, where Democratic plans to address climate change floundered on Capitol Hill and there was fresh evidence that inflation had reached historic levels. And at every step along the way, Biden confronted a far different region than existed when he served as vice president. Read: Biden meets with Arab Gulf countries to counter Iran threat President Donald Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal reached under President Barack Obama, and Tehran is believed to be closer than ever to building a nuclear weapon. The threat, which Biden has struggled to address through renewed negotiations, has deepened coordination between Israel and its Arab neighbors, who have found common cause in confronting Iran. The budding ties have also opened the door to greater economic and security integration, recasting the Middle East's fractious politics at the same time that Arab leaders were fearing the U.S. had become a less reliable ally. They distrusted Obama's outreach to Iran and Trump's erratic behavior, then viewed Biden as neglectful toward the region once he took office. Biden's challenge has been to recognize the shifting landscape and persuade leaders in the Middle East to remain aligned with U.S. interests — without being dragged back into a corner of the world that the American public has largely turned away from after the end of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although Biden expressed a renewed commitment to the region by saying “the United States is not going anywhere,” he also seemed to acknowledge its limitations. “The United States is clear-eyed about the challenges in the Middle East and about where we have the greatest capacity to help drive positive outcomes," he said.  Also: Biden tells Dems to quickly pass pared-down economic package Besides announcing the new funding for hunger relief, he met individually with several of his counterparts, some for the first time since he became president. He also invited Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who recently became president of the United Arab Emirates, formalizing his role at the helm of major policy decisions, to visit the White House in the coming months. It was another effort to smooth ties that have become strained, in part because of Biden's actions. For example, although the U.S. has played a key role in encouraging a monthslong cease-fire in Yemen, the Emiratis have criticized his decision to reverse a Trump-era move that had listed the Iran-backed Houthis as a terrorist group. The centerpiece of Biden's outreach in the Middle East was his first meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia and heir to the throne held by his father, King Salman. The encounter began Friday with a fist bump outside the royal palace in Jeddah, a chummy gesture that was swiftly criticized because of Prince Mohammed's history of human rights abuses. In addition to cracking down on his critics in Saudi Arabia, the prince, according to U.S. intelligence, likely approved the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi nearly four years ago. Biden rejected the notion that he was abandoning human rights by meeting with the crown prince, and said he brought up Khashoggi's murder during their conversation. The topic created a “frosty” start to the meeting, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to discuss the private meeting and insisted on anonymity. The Saudi-owned Al Arabiya news network, citing an unnamed Saudi source, reported that Prince Mohammed responded to Biden’s mention of Khashoggi by saying that attempts to impose a set of values can backfire. He also said the U.S. had committed mistakes at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, where detainees were tortured, and pressed Biden on the killing of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during a recent Israeli raid on the West Bank city of Jenin. Also read: Biden’s Saudi visit aims to balance rights, oil, security The atmosphere between the two eventually became more relaxed, the U.S. official said, as they spoke about energy security, expanding high-speed internet access in the Middle East and other issues. The regional summit in Jeddah and Biden's visit provided Prince Mohammed with the opportunity to showcase his country's heavyweight role in the Middle East, and his position at the helm of the world's largest oil exporter. He hinted that the kingdom could pump more oil than it currently does, something Biden wants to see when existing production quotas among OPEC+ member countries, which include Russia, expire in September. “I’m doing all I can to increase the supply for the United States of America, which I expect to happen,” Biden said Friday. “The Saudis share that urgency, and based on our discussions today, I expect we’ll see further steps in the coming weeks.” He also tried to draw Arab nations onto his side over the invasion of Ukraine by releasing satellite imagery indicating that Russian officials visited Iran in June and July to see weapons-capable drones that it could acquire. The disclosure appeared aimed at drawing a connection between the war in Europe and Arab leaders' own concerns about Iran. So far, none of the countries represented at the summit has moved in lockstep with the U.S. to sanction Russia, a foreign policy priority for the Biden administration. If anything, the UAE has emerged as a sort of financial haven for Russian billionaires and their multimillion-dollar yachts. Egypt remains open to Russian tourists. Meantime, there are sharp divisions on regional foreign policy among the heads of state who attended the summit. For example, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE are trying to isolate and squeeze Iran over its regional reach and proxies. Oman and Qatar have solid diplomatic ties with Iran and have acted as intermediaries for talks between Washington and Tehran. But before ending his speech at the summit, Biden expressed hopes for a new era of cooperation. "This is a table full of problem solvers," he said. “There’s a lot of good we can do if we do it together.”

President Joe Biden says he remains supportive of an independent Palestinian state but says the “ground is not ripe” for restarting peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Biden delivered the assessment at a news conference with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in the occupied West Bank. The comments were likely to disappoint the Palestinians, who are looking to the U.S. to press Israel into restarting peace talks. The last substantive talks collapsed over a decade ago. Biden said the world “cannot wait” for a peace agreement and said that steps need to be taken to improve the lives of Palestinian people. Abbas said “the key to peace” in the region “begins with ending the Israeli occupation of our land.” HERE'S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING: Biden heads to West Bank with little to offer Palestinians As Biden visits, a look at those targeted in Saudi Arabia Israeli politics a backdrop to Biden's visit to the Mideast China’s Foreign Ministry said Friday it won’t take a backseat to the U.S. in the Middle East, as President Joe Biden visits the region to reassert American leadership and “not create a vacuum.” “The Middle East is not the backyard of any other country and there is no such thing as vacuum in the region,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters in Beijing on Friday. “We have made relentless efforts and played a key role in safeguarding peace, promoting development, and bringing a fair and equitable resolution on hotspot issues in the region,” Wang added. “China is ready to work with the international community to continue to play a positive role in realizing peace and development in the Middle East.” Biden is using his trip to Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia to shore up ties with regional partners. BETHLEHEM, West Bank -- President Joe Biden has arrived in the biblical town of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank for talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Biden was given a bouquet of flowers by a pair of Palestinian children as he arrived. He held his hand over his heart as a Palestinian band played the U.S. national anthem before he entered Abbas’ office. The brief meeting with the Palestinian leader comes after two days of nonstop talks with Israeli leaders. Biden is then to continue to Saudi Arabia for talks with Arab leaders. Read: ‘Free Palestine’: Protesters in major US cities decry airstrikes over Gaza In the West Bank, Biden is expected to announce some $200 million in additional assistance to the Palestinians, after pledging $100 million to hospitals that serve Palestinians in east Jerusalem earlier Friday. While voicing support for a Palestinian state, Biden is not expected to float any new diplomatic initiatives during his visit. Palestinian officials have expressed disappointment over the U.S. inability to restart peace talks. On his way from Jerusalem, Biden’s motorcade passed by a billboard posted by an Israeli human rights group saying, “Mr. President, this is apartheid.” Human rights groups say Israel’s treatment amounts to apartheid. Israel rejects the allegation as an attack on its legitimacy. BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Palestinian journalists covering President Joe Biden’s visit to the occupied West Bank are wearing black T-shirts bearing the image of slain Palestinian-American correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh. The popular Al-Jazeera correspondent was killed in May while covering an Israeli military raid in the West Bank. The Palestinians, including colleagues who were with her, say that Israeli soldiers intentionally killed her. Israel says its troops were in a battle with Palestinian gunmen, and it’s not clear who fired the deadly bullet. U.S. experts who inspected the bullet recently determined that Israeli fire likely killed her. But without providing evidence, they said there was no reason to believe the shooting was intentional. The findings have infuriated the Palestinians, including Abu Akleh’s family. The black T-shirts worn by journalists in Bethlehem, saying “Justice for Shireen,” were meant as a sign of solidarity with their slain colleague. Biden was headed to the biblical town of Bethlehem to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Biden has announced hundreds of millions of dollars of assistance to the Palestinians. But Palestinians are disappointed that there are no plans for a diplomatic initiative to promote the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. JERUSALEM — President Joe Biden has announced $100 million in U.S. assistance for east Jerusalem hospitals that serve as “the backbone” of health care for Palestinians. Also read: Israel-Palestine conflict: China calls for UN council action, slams US He spoke Friday during a visit to the Augusta Victoria Hospital, which provides advanced medical care, including radiation treatment for cancer patients and pediatric kidney dialysis, to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. The funding is subject to approval by the U.S. Congress and would pay out over several years. Biden called the six hospitals “the backbone of the Palestinian health care system.” The aid came after the Trump administration slashed $25 million to the hospitals in 2018 as part of a larger suspension of aid to the Palestinians. Biden has restored much of that assistance since assuming office, but has made no progress in resuming the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which collapsed more than a decade ago. Dr. Fadi Atrash, the hospital’s CEO, called Biden’s visit a “courageous statement of support for the Palestinian people.” Biden was set to meet with Palestinian leaders in the occupied West Bank later on Friday. Israel captured east Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and Gaza, in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three for their future state.   Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move not recognized internationally and views the entire city as its capital. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state, and its fate is at the heart of the century-old conflict. The six east Jerusalem hospitals, which symbolize the Palestinian presence in the city, have faced a funding crisis in recent years, as the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority has struggled to pay for advanced treatment for Palestinians. Augusta Victoria Hospital, which is operated by the Lutheran World Federation, ended 2021 in severe debt, with more than $70 million owed by the PA, according to a letter sent to U.S. lawmakers in May. JERUSALEM — About two dozen pro-Palestinian demonstrators have gathered in east Jerusalem ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to a local hospital. The protesters on Friday are holding Palestinian flags and posters of Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist who was killed in May while covering an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank. After two days of nonstop meetings with Israeli leaders, Biden is visiting the Augusta Victoria Hospital, which serves local Palestinians, before heading to Bethlehem to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The demonstration is several hundred meters (yards) from the hospital, with Israeli police standing at a distance outside the building. It was not clear if Biden’s motorcade would pass by the crowd. Biden is expected to announce over $300 million in assistance for the Palestinians on Friday. While Biden has voiced support for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, there are no plans for any diplomatic initiative to resolve the decades-old conflict. Friday’s visit marks a tacit acknowledgement of Palestinian claims to east Jerusalem. Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and considers the entire city its capital. But its annexation of the eastern sector, home to the city’s most important religious sites, is not internationally recognized. The Palestinians seek east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state. JERUSALEM — Saudi Arabia on Friday opened its airspace to “all air carriers,” signaling the end of its longstanding ban on Israeli flights overflying its territory — a key step toward normalization between the two nations as President Joe Biden visits the region. In a statement posted to Twitter hours before Biden is set to become the first U.S. leader to fly directly from Israel to the kingdom, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said it was announcing “the decision to open the Kingdom’s airspace for all air carriers that meet the requirements of the Authority for overflying.” The announcement is an incremental step toward the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel and builds on the strong but informal ties the erstwhile foes have developed recent years over their shared concerns about Iran’s growing influence in the region. In recent years, Saudi Arabia has allowed flights between Israel and Gulf states to cross through its airspace. In 2020, then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly flew to Saudi Arabia for a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and last week several Israeli defense reporters visited the kingdom and published news reports about their welcome.

An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader who is a possible 2021 presidential candidate is warning that any American attack on the Islamic Republic could set off a “full-fledged war” in the Mideast in the waning days of the Trump administration.

The United Arab Emirates on Wednesday confirmed the first cases in the Mideast of the new Chinese virus that causes flu-like symptoms, saying doctors now were treating a family that had just come from a city at the epicenter of the outbreak.