Lebanon and Syria are cracking down on Palestinian factions that for decades have had an armed presence in both countries and which on some occasions were used to plan and launch attacks against Israel.

The crackdown comes as Syria's new rulers under Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham are pursuing officials of the former government under Bashar Assad, including those in the ousted president's web of security agencies. Syria's most prominent Palestinian factions were key allies of the Assad dynasty in both war and peace time and closely cooperated on security matters.

A Palestinian student arrested as he was about to finalize his U.S. citizenship has accused Columbia University of eroding democracy with its handling of campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war.

Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, who led anti-war protests at the Ivy League school in New York in 2023 and 2024, spent 16 days in a Vermont prison before a judge ordered him released on April 30. He spoke to The Associated Press on Thursday, a day after pro-Palestinian protestors clashed with campus security guards inside the university's main library. At least 80 people were taken into custody, police said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening security cooperation, vowing to work against threats, including Kurdish militants based on Iraqi territory.

Al-Sudani arrived in Turkey on Thursday as the neighboring countries are working to enhance cooperation and mend past tensions.

Israel's military said Thursday it opened a mobile medical clinic in southern Syria to support the Druze population, which it has committed to defending in recent weeks.

In footage published by the army, military medical personnel can be seen treating a man with his arm in cast -- all of whom have their faces blurred -- in what appears to be a mobile cabin.

A Hamas delegation held two meetings with Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Doha this week but they produced no breakthrough in the search for a Gaza truce, sources close to the group said Friday.

"Egyptian officials met twice with a high-level Hamas delegation led by (chief negotiator) Khalil al-Hayya (and) Qatari officials on Wednesday and Thursday in Doha," one source told AFP.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will travel to Saudi Arabia and Qatar on Saturday, his ministry said, ahead of a regional visit by U.S. President Donald Trump next week.

Araghchi is due to hold talks with senior Saudi officials in Riyadh before heading to Doha for a conference on Arab-Iranian dialogue, ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a statement.

Syria's finance minister has said Qatar will help the Islamist-led government to pay public sector salaries for the coming months through a mechanism he said had been exempted from U.S. sanctions.

There was no immediate announcement from either the Qatari government or the U.S. Treasury.

First responders in Gaza said Thursday that their operations were at a near standstill, more than two months into a full Israeli blockade that has left food and fuel in severe shortage.

Israel issued its strongest threat yet against Iran on Thursday, warning it would do to it what it has done to Hamas in Gaza after an attack on Ben Gurion airport by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

Israeli forces entered two U.N. schools in annexed east Jerusalem Thursday to enforce their closure, an AFP photographer reported, as the United Nations confirmed three schools were closed in the city's Shuafat refugee camp.

The photographer reported that a closure notice in Hebrew was left at the entrance of at least one of the schools, and the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) which runs them said at least one of its staff was detained.