U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has warned Iraq against a pro-Iranian government as the expected return of Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister stirs Washington's concern.

Maliki, who left power in 2014 following heated pressure from the United States, has been chosen by Iraq's largest Shiite bloc, which would put him in line to be nominated prime minister.

The Kremlin on Monday said the US-brokered trilateral talks in the UAE between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators had been held in a "constructive spirit" but that there was still "significant work ahead".

"It would be a mistake to expect any significant results from the initial contacts... But the very fact that these contacts have begun in a constructive spirit can be viewed positively. However, there is significant work ahead," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

Israel said its military was conducting a "large-scale operation" to locate the last hostage in Gaza, as Washington and other mediators pressure Israel and Hamas to move into the next phase of their ceasefire.

The statement came Sunday as Israel's Cabinet met to discuss the possibility of opening Gaza's key Rafah border crossing with Egypt, and a day after top U.S. envoys met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about next steps.

The Syrian government and Kurdish forces have agreed to extend a ceasefire set to expire Saturday, as part of a broader deal on the future of Kurd-majority areas, several sources told AFP.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani told French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday that European countries should repatriate IS detainees that were transferred from Syria to Iraq as part of a US operation.

During a telephone call, Sudani "stressed the importance of countries around the world, particularly European Union member states, assuming their responsibilities by receiving those individuals who hold their nationalities" and prosecuting them, according to a statement from his office.

Modern cities with sleek high-rises, a pristine coastline that attracts tourists, and a state-of-the-art port that juts into the Mediterranean. This is what Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law and Middle East adviser, says Gaza could become, according to a presentation he gave at an economic forum in Davos, Switzerland.

In his 10-minute speech on Thursday, Kushner claimed it would be possible — if there's security — to quickly rebuild Gaza's cities, which are now in ruins after more than two years of war between Israel and Hamas.

Turkey is celebrating the latest developments in Syria, where the new government has effectively defeated a major Kurdish-led force with an abrupt offensive.

Ankara has long viewed armed groups led by Kurds — an ethnic minority with large populations in eastern Turkey, Iraq and northern Syria — as a threat as Turkey as fought to quell the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, whose decades‑long insurgency claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Europeans were among 150 senior Islamic State group jihadist detainees transferred from Syria to Iraq earlier this week as part of a U.S. operation, two Iraqi security officials told AFP Friday.

The group, which the U.S. military transferred to Iraq on Wednesday, were "all leaders of the Islamic State group, and some of the most notorious criminals," and included "Europeans, Asians, Arabs and Iraqis," one security official said.

European leaders have serious doubts about the scope of President Donald Trump's "Board of Peace" but were ready to work with the United States and the newly founded body in Gaza, EU chief Antonio Costa said Friday.

"We have serious doubts about a number of elements in the charter of the Board of Peace related to its scope, its governance and its compatibility with the U.N. Charter," the European Council president said after an EU leaders' summit in Brussels.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said negotiating teams from Washington, Moscow and Kyiv would discuss territorial control of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region at talks beginning Friday in the United Arab Emirates.

"The Donbas is a key issue. It will be discussed in the modality that the three parties see fit in Abu Dhabi today and tomorrow," Zelensky told journalists, including from AFP, in an online briefing.