Lebanon's parliament on Tuesday approved a bill legalizing the cultivation of cannabis for medical use amid the objections of Hizbullah's bloc and several independent MPs.

The head of the U.N. food agency warned Tuesday that, as the world is dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, it is also "on the brink of a hunger pandemic" that could lead to "multiple famines of biblical proportions" within a few months if immediate action isn't taken.

World Food Program Executive Director David Beasley told the U.N. Security Council that even before COVID-19 became an issue, he was telling world leaders that "2020 would be facing the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II." That's because of wars in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere, locust swarms in Africa, frequent natural disasters and economic crises including in Lebanon, Congo, Sudan and Ethiopia, he said.

The Chouf town of Baakline witnessed a mysterious massacre on Tuesday in which at least nine people were killed in separate locations.

The victims include a Syrian couple and their two children, a Syrian man, a Lebanese woman and three Lebanese men.

An Israeli airstrike in central Syria killed nine fighters, including six who were not Syrians and some who were loyal to Lebanon's Hizbullah, an opposition war monitor said Tuesday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights gave no nationalities for the foreigners who were killed on a military post in the desert near the historic central town of Palmyra. It said the dead included some fighters loyal to Hizbullah.

Hundreds of Lebanese demonstrators on Tuesday reclaimed streets emptied by the coronavirus-induced lockdown to revive a moribund protest movement but stayed in their cars to respect social distancing.

Joyous convoys of honking cars decked out with Lebanon's cedar-emblazoned flag converged on Martyr's Square, the epicenter of the protest movement born almost exactly half a year ago.

Lebanon’s lawmakers kicked off legislative sessions at Beirut's UNESCO Palace theater to discuss 66 items on the agenda including the controversial amnesty law, as anti-government protests resume momentum.

The CCTV footage from a Dutch business park shows a man in a black cap pouring the contents of a white container at the base of a cellular radio tower. Flames burst out as the man jogs back to his Toyota to flee into the evening.

It's a scene that's been repeated dozens of times in recent weeks in Europe, where officials are pushing back against conspiracy theories linking new 5G mobile networks and the coronavirus pandemic are fueling arson attacks on cell towers.

Syrian air defenses opened fire and shot down several missiles launched by Israeli warplanes Monday night near the central historic town of Palmyra, state media said.

Israel has accused Hizbullah of "provocative" activity along the Lebanese-Israeli frontier and said it would complain to the U.N. Security Council.

In a statement, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused Hizbullah of multiple attempts to breach the border Friday night.

As unemployment rises and many around the world face the first rent payments after losing their jobs, governments are wrestling with when and how to ease restrictions designed to control the coronavirus pandemic.