Iran goes to the polls next week to choose a new president, as the second term of moderate Hassan Rouhani comes to an end. 

To all the struggles of life in Lebanon — the pandemic, the power outages, the inflation, the punishing financial and political crises — add one more: shortages of crucial medications.

But as residents struggle to find the medicines they need, some are finding that their fellow Lebanese are doing what they can to help.

Last month's Israeli-Palestinian violence triggered "uncomfortable conversations" between business partners in Israel and the United Arab Emirates just months after the countries normalised ties, the deputy mayor of Jerusalem told AFP.

After the Central Bank issued a memo asking Lebanese banks to pay monthly fresh dollar sums to depositors, questions arose on whether the banks will abide by the decision, especially after they reportedly said in a leaked letter that they lack the ability to do so.

For months, Naftali Bennett vexed Israel's political establishment by refusing to say whether he and his Yamina party would get behind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Now the 49-year-old tech millionaire and former Netanyahu protege is poised to become his successor.

His rise to Israel's top job is a historic turn for the 73-year-old nation after four inconclusive elections and a brutal 11-day war with Hamas' militant rulers in the Gaza Strip. As a fragile truce held into its second week, Bennett finally announced his party would join with allies of centrist Yair Lapid to form a government.

Israel's centrist opposition leader Yair Lapid was edging closer Monday to rallying a diverse political bloc around a common aim: to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has won a fourth term in office with 95 percent of the vote in a ballot dismissed abroad as a "farce".

The latest escalation in the Middle East conflict served to unite the geographically fragmented Palestinian community in a way not seen in years, analysts say.

Israel's battle with Gaza militants and unprecedented inter-communal violence at home have further complicated efforts to form a government, raising the specter of yet another general election, experts say. 

After a ceasefire with Israel, Hamas has claimed "victory" but the Palestinian Islamist group's success lies more in marginalizing its political rival Fatah than in battle, analysts say.

The return of calm to the Hamas-run enclave of Gaza, after 11 days of Israeli air strikes on the coastal strip -- and rocket fire sent in the other direction -- was celebrated Friday by large crowds waving Palestinian flags.