Three people, including a policeman, were killed Sunday during clashes in Baghdad between security forces and pro-Iran gunmen, according to authorities and a member of a local armed group.

Syrian authorities announced that a new transitional parliament would be selected in September, with local electoral bodies picking two-thirds of the lawmakers and the country's interim president naming the rest.

The Health Ministry said three people were killed in Israeli strikes in the south on Saturday despite a ceasefire, as the Israeli military said one of them targeted a Hezbollah militant.

The United States bas criticized the release from a French prison of pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, who spent more than 40 years behind bars for the alleged killings of two diplomats, one of them American.

Abdallah was detained in 1984 and sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for his alleged involvement in the murders of U.S. military attache Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris.

Lebanon is mourning musician and composer Ziad Rahbani, son of iconic singer Fairuz and a musical pioneer in his own right, who died on Saturday aged 69 after a decades-long career that revolutionized the country's artistic scene.

Tributes poured in for Rahbani, also a playwright and considered the enfant terrible of Lebanese music, who left a huge mark on multiple generations with his often satirical plays and songs that for many reflected a deep understanding of Lebanon's political and economic reality.

Israeli troops boarded a boat which the pro-Palestinian activist group Freedom Flotilla had been sailing towards Gaza on Saturday, Israel said, a scene that was livestreamed by the group.

A Syrian diplomatic source said Saturday that a U.S.-mediated meeting with Israeli officials in Paris this week sought to "contain the escalation" after recent sectarian violence in southern Syria prompted Israeli intervention.

Aid trucks had begun entering the Gaza Strip from Egypt on Sunday, AFPTV footage showed, as Israel announced a "tactical pause" in parts of the devastated territory to allow deliveries.

Palestinians expressed mixed opinions Friday after French President Emmanuel Macron said he'd recognize a Palestinian state, with enthusiasm mitigated by the world's failure to stem suffering in Gaza.

"We hope it will be implemented, and we hope that most or all countries around the world will follow France's lead in recognizing the Palestinian people's right to an independent state," said Nabil Abdel Razek, a resident of Ramallah, home to the Palestinian Authority.

Gunmen killed five civilians during a "terrorist attack" on a judiciary building in southeast Iran on Saturday before being killed themselves, state media reported.