Syrian government forces shelled tent settlements housing families displaced by the country's conflict in the rebel-held northwest early Sunday, killing at least six people and wounding dozens, opposition war monitors and first responders said.

The shelling is the latest violation of a truce reached between Russia and Turkey in March 2020 that ended a Russian-backed government offensive on Idlib province that is the last major rebel-held stronghold in Syria.

Iran on Friday marked the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran as its theocracy faces nationwide protests after the September death of a 22-year-old woman who was arrested by the country's morality police. Meanwhile, activists in southeast Iran claimed security forces killed at least 16 people in protests there.

Iranian state-run television aired live feeds of various commemorations around the country, with some in Tehran waving placards of the triangle-shaped Iranian drones Russia now uses to strike targets in its war on Ukraine. But while crowds in Tehran looked large with chador-wearing women waving the Islamic Republic's flag, other commemorations in the country appeared smaller, with only a few dozen people taking part.

Thousands of Christians from around the Gulf packed Bahrain's sports stadium on Saturday for Pope Francis' big Mass, as he shifted the attention of his four-day visit to ministering to the Catholic community in the overwhelmingly Muslim region.

The English-language liturgy was clearly geared toward the South Asian migrant workers who make up the bulk of the Gulf's Catholics, with prayers in Malay, Tagalog and Tamil and a priest offering English translations of the pope's native Spanish homily.

Iran's foreign minister on Saturday acknowledged for the first time that his country has supplied Russia with drones, insisting the transfer came before Moscow's war on Ukraine that has seen the Iranian-made drones divebombing Kyiv.

The comments by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian come after months of confusing messaging from Iran about the weapons shipment, as Russia sends the drones slamming into Ukrainian energy infrastructure and civilian targets.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has voiced alarm about rising tensions in the West Bank, in a call to thank outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who has conceded defeat in his country's elections.

Blinken spoke to Lapid to "commend Israel for its free and fair elections, and to thank the prime minister for his partnership," the State Department said in a statement.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati held Friday at the Grand Serail a meeting on cholera control with the ambassadors of donor countries and international organizations.

The caretaker ministers of health, interior and energy, the ambassadors of donor countries to Lebanon and representatives of the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Development Program, and UNICEF attended the meeting.

Two weeks after a New York jury sided with Kevin Spacey in a sexual abuse lawsuit, an Italian film museum announced that the actor would receive a lifetime achievement award and teach a master class there early next year.

Enzo Ghigo, president of the National Museum of Cinema in the northern city of Turin, said the class and the award honoring Spacey's contribution to the growth of cinema would take place on Jan. 16, 2023. The event also is set to include a screening of a Spacey film, though Ghigo didn't say which.

Kieran Tierney blasted home a winner for Arsenal to seal the top spot in its group and advance to the round of 16 of the Europa League with a 1-0 victory over Zurich on Thursday.

The Premier League leader needed a win in London to guarantee first place ahead of PSV Eindhoven.

Qatar has relaxed limits on international visitors arriving during the World Cup and will allow entry for fans without tickets from Dec. 2 when the group stage ends.

Fans will still need to apply for and get a Hayya Card tournament identification document before traveling but a match ticket will no longer be mandatory to enter, Qatari World Cup organizers said.

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique, a three-time Champions League winner with the club who also helped Spain win the 2010 World Cup, has announced his retirement at age 35.

Pique said in a video posted on his Twitter account Thursday that "this Saturday will be my last game at Camp Nou."