Israeli settlers vandalized a mosque in the Israeli-occupied West Bank early Monday, spray-painting offensive phrases and setting a fire, according to the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Worshippers arriving for the day's first prayers found the damage and a smoldering fire that spewed black smoke across the entrance of the Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq Mosque in the town of Tell, near Nablus, and stained the ornate doorway.

Iraqi prime ministerial candidate Nouri al-Maliki told AFP on Monday that maintaining a good relationship with the U.S. is essential but that Baghdad's ties with Iran are defined by shared interests.

"I believe that a relationship with the American side is essential for Iraq's progress," Maliki said, adding that he rejects claims his relationship with the U.S. was bad during his first two terms in power from 2006 to 2014.

A dispute between Iraq and Kuwait over their maritime border that reignited over the weekend has prompted Gulf Arab countries to side with Kuwait, putting Baghdad on the defensive on Monday over its demand.

The dispute came after Iraq recently submitted a map and geographic coordinates to the United Nations to delineate what it says are Iraqi areas in the Persian Gulf waters — some of which Kuwait claims infringe on its territory.

The United States began withdrawing on Monday from a major base in Syria still under the control of Kurdish forces, a Kurdish official who requested anonymity told AFP.

An AFP team saw a convoy of dozens of trucks, loaded with armored vehicles and prefabricated structures, on a road linking the Qasrak base in Hasakeh province to the border with Iraq.

Iran said Monday that any U.S. attack, including limited strikes, would be an "act of aggression" that would precipitate a response, after President Donald Trump said he was considering a limited strike on Iran.

"And with respect to your first question concerning the limited strike, I think there is no limited strike," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said at a briefing in Tehran attended by an AFP journalist.

The European Union's top diplomats are set to meet Monday with the director of the Board of Peace in Brussels after a shaky and controversial embrace of U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts to secure and rebuild the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.

Nikolay Mladenov, a former Bulgarian politician and U.N. diplomat chosen by Trump to manage the Board of Peace, will meet the EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and foreign ministers from across the 27-nation bloc. The EU diplomats are also expected to discuss the war in Ukraine and fresh sanctions on Russia.

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said that U.S. President Donald Trump is questioning why Iran has not "capitulated" in the face of Washington's military build-up aimed at pressuring them into a nuclear deal.

Arab and Islamic countries issued a joint condemnation of remarks by U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who suggested Israel had a biblical right to a vast swath of the Middle East.

Huckabee, a former Baptist minister and a fervent Israel supporter, was speaking on the podcast of far-right commentator and Israel critic Tucker Carlson.

Iranian students chanted anti-government slogans and scuffled with counter-protesters in the latest display of anger at the country's clerical leaders, who also face a U.S. military build-up aimed at pressuring them into a nuclear deal.

The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier was seen entering the Mediterranean Sea on Friday, where it was ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump as part of a massive military buildup in the Middle East.