A mysterious air base is being built on a volcanic island off Yemen that sits in one of the world's crucial maritime chokepoints for both energy shipments and commercial cargo.

While no country has claimed the Mayun Island air base in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, shipping traffic associated with a prior attempt to build a massive runway across the 5.6-kilometer-long island years ago links back to the United Arab Emirates.

Syria's foreign minister blamed Israel for mysterious attacks over more than a year targeting oil tankers heading to Syria, saying they violate international law and will not go unpunished.

Faisal Mekdad told Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV in an interview aired late Sunday that oil tankers coming to Syria now move under Russian protection. He did not provide any evidence for how Israel was behind the attacks.

Caretaker Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni on Monday signed an urgent draft law prepared by the Premiership and aimed at “approving ration cards and opening an additional and extraordinary line of credit for funding them,” the National News Agency said.

Al-Akhbar newspaper had earlier reported that “after political blocs refused spending from the obligatory reserve” of the central bank, “the Premiership threw the ball yesterday in the court of the Finance Ministry.”

Palestinians rallied by the thousands Friday after a cease-fire took effect in the latest Gaza war, with many viewing it as costly but clear victory for the Islamic militant group Hamas. Israel vowed to respond with a "new level of force" to any further hostilities.

The 11-day war left more than 200 dead — the vast majority Palestinians — and brought widespread devastation to the already impoverished Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. But the rocket barrages that brought life to a standstill in much of Israel were seen by many Palestinians as a bold response to perceived Israeli abuses in Jerusalem, the emotional heart of the conflict.

The diplomatic flurry was over and Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu was on the phone telling U.S. President Joe Biden that it appeared the furious fighting between Israel and Hamas was about to end.

But Biden remained wary even after the afternoon phone call with the prime minister. Things still could go crosswise with hours to go before the cease-fire took effect, Biden's team reasoned.

Ever since their last war in 2006, Israel and Hizbullah have constantly warned that a new round between them is inevitable. Yet once again, a potential trigger has gone unpulled.

Hizbullah's shadow loomed large during Israel and Hamas' two-week battle, with the possibility it could unleash its arsenal of missiles -- far more powerful than Hamas' -- in support of the Palestinians.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Security Cabinet has approved a unilateral ceasefire to halt an 11-day military operation in the Gaza Strip, Israeli media said late Thursday.

The decision came after heavy U.S. pressure to halt the offensive. Multiple reports said the ceasefire was to go into effect at 2 a.m., just over three hours after the decision.

A Dutch court on Thursday ordered fugitive former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn to repay nearly 5 million euros in salary to an Amsterdam-based alliance between Nissan and Mitsubishi, and rejected his claim for millions in compensation for wrongful dismissal.

The ruling came in a case in which Ghosn sought to have his 2018 sacking from Nissan-Mitsubishi B.V. overturned and demanded 15 million euros ($16.5 million) in compensation.

Lebanese mobs attacked buses and cars carrying Syrian expatriates and refugees heading to the Syrian embassy in Baabda on Thursday, protesting against what they said was an organized vote for President Bashar Assad.

Scattered mobs of anti-Syrian Lebanese, most of them from the Lebanese Forces party, waited for convoys of cars and buses carrying Syrian voters at intersections in Beirut, outside the capital and in the eastern Bekaa region. They pelted them with rocks and smashed windows with sticks. In one incident near Nahr el-Kalb on the highway north of Beirut, one attacker poked a wooden stick inside the car, poking the driver as others smashed the windshield.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday vowed to press ahead with a fierce military offensive in the Gaza Strip, pushing back against calls from U.S. President Joe Biden to wind down the operation that has left hundreds dead.

Netanyahu's tough comments marked the first public rift between the two close allies since the fighting began last week and could complicate international efforts to reach a cease-fire.