Turkey has dispatched emergency personnel and aid to northern Iraq following Sunday's earthquake on the Iraq-Iran border as officials expressed their "deep sadness" at the tragedy.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said his country has taken immediate action to provide medical and food aid to northern Iraq. Kerem Kinik, Turkish Red Crescent's vice president, told The Associated Press from Habur border gate that 33 aid trucks were en route to Iraq's city of Sulaimaniyah, carrying 3,000 tents and heaters, 10,000 beds and blankets as well as food.

Saudi Arabia said Monday that the Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen will begin reopening airports and seaports in the Arab world's poorest country, days after closing them over a rebel ballistic missile attack on Riyadh.

The announcement from the Saudi mission at the United Nations came after the coalition fighting Yemen's rebels, known as Houthis, and their allies faced widespread international criticism over the closure, with the U.N. and over 20 aid groups saying it could bring millions of people closer to "starvation and death."

Teams of Iranian rescuers dug through rubble in a hunt for survivors Monday after a major earthquake struck the Iran-Iraq border, killing at least 421 people and injuring thousands.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Sunday he will return to Lebanon "within days" and that his surprising resignation was aimed at creating a “positive shock.”

Just when things were starting to look up for Lebanon's economy, a new political crisis threatens to send it crashing down again.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri's shock resignation could unravel the first steps in years toward injecting some cash and confidence in Lebanon's anemic economy. Already, the crisis is putting at risk multi-billion-dollar plans to rebuild decaying road and electrical and communication networks and get the oil and gas sector moving.

The United States and France have expressed their support for Lebanon's sovereignty and stability amid heightening tensions between Beirut and Saudi Arabia.

A political crisis has gripped Lebanon and shattered the relative peace maintained by its coalition government since Prime Minister Saad Hariri's stunning announcement Nov. 4 from the Saudi capital that he was resigning.

Justice Minister Salim Jreissati has asked the country's prosecutor general to launch an investigation against two Saudi journalists who appeared on a TV talk show and branded the Lebanese president and parliament speakers as "terrorists," the National News Agency reported.

Germany has called on Saudi Arabia and Iran not to undermine Lebanon's stability following the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel called his Saudi counterpart Thursday to highlight the need to safeguard Lebanon's stability.

Dozens of citizens of Gulf Arab countries began leaving Lebanon on Friday after their governments ordered them to leave the Mediterranean country, as President Michel Aoun called for the return of Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri who mysteriously resigned from the Saudi capital last week.

Firebrand Saudi State Minister for Gulf Affairs Thamer al-Sabhan warned earlier this month that his government would deal with Lebanon as a hostile state as long as Hizbullah was in the Lebanese government.

Hizbullah's parliamentary bloc on Thursday called on Saudi Arabia to stay out of Lebanese affairs, saying the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, announced from Riyadh over the weekend, "has raised many questions."

In a statement issued after its weekly meeting, the bloc said Saudi Arabia was mired in crisis after the “failure” of its 2 ½-year military intervention in Yemen, which has led to a military stalemate.