Saudi Arabia has awarded its highest national honor to Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, during his visit to Riyadh, Pakistan's military said Monday, underscoring deepening ties between the two countries, including cooperation on counterterrorism.

Munir received the King Abdulaziz Medal of the Excellent Class on Sunday, months after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman signed a defense pact with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif highlighting the longstanding strategic relationship between the two countries.

Israel's security cabinet approved the establishment of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, a move the country's far-right finance minister said on Sunday was aimed at preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.

A Syria monitor said Saturday that at least five Islamic State jihadist group members including a cell leader were killed in U.S. strikes overnight after a deadly attack on American troops last weekend.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has urged the disarmament of Hamas but voiced hope for headway on reaching the next stage of a Gaza ceasefire as regional officials met.

UAE airport authorities cancelled or delayed dozens of flights and roads were flooded in major cities as the heaviest rainstorm in months lashed the desert nation on Friday.

Jerusalem's Latin Patriarch, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, arrived in Gaza Friday for Christmas Mass at the Holy Family Parish in Gaza City, which hosts the Palestinian territory's only Roman Catholic church.

Syria's foreign ministry on Friday welcomed the permanent ending by the United States of the so-called Caesar sanctions, paving the way for the return of investment to the war-ravaged nation.

More than a month after Iraq's parliamentary elections, the country's top leaders remain locked in talks to form a government while facing pressure from Washington to exclude Tehran-backed armed groups.

A top Hamas official said that talks in Miami on Friday to advance the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire must aim to end Israeli truce "violations" in the Palestinian territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has approved a $35 billion natural gas export deal to Egypt, the biggest gas deal in Israeli history. The agreement could also help repair relations between the two countries strained during the two-year war in the Gaza Strip.

The gas will be delivered to Egypt over the next 15 years by U.S. energy giant Chevron, a key owner of the gas field off Israel's coast in the Mediterranean Sea. Half of the proceeds are expected to go to Israel's state coffers.