BEIRUT: Lebanon’s southern border area near the town of Kfarchouba was tense on Friday as residents protested against Israeli bulldozers operating close to the so-called “Blue Line” that separates liberated and occupied areas.
It prompted the Lebanese army to send patrols to the area in coordination with the UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL.
Residents of Kfarchouba, Chebaa, Kfarhamam and villages around the mostly Sunni town of Aarqoub performed Friday prayers in Kfarchouba to protest against the Israeli operation.

RIYADH: The warring parties in Sudan have agreed to a 24-hour nationwide ceasefire beginning June 10, a statement from Saudi Arabia and US said on Friday.

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States of America announce that representatives of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) agreed to a 24-hour countrywide ceasefire beginning on June 10 at 6:00 a.m. Khartoum time,” Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted on their social media account.

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: Israeli forces on Friday killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry and the army said, with the latter adding that a soldier was lightly wounded.
Mehdi Bayadsa, 29, was killed by “bullets from the occupation (Israel) near the Rantis military checkpoint, west of Ramallah,” the ministry said in a statement.
The military in a statement said it had “neutralized” a Palestinian who had arrived near the crossing point between the West Bank and Israel in a stolen vehicle.

ANKARA: As part of recently re-elected Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s attempts to overhaul his economic team, the country’s central bank will be governed by a female executive for the first time.

US-based Hafize Gaye Erkan, 41, is Turkiye’s fifth central bank chief in four years, replacing Sahap Kavcioglu, who followed a policy of slashing interest rates despite rising inflation of around 40 percent. Kavcioglu has now been appointed head of the Banking Regulatory and Supervision Agency (BDDK).

HALZOUN, Syria: Huddled inside a tent in rebel-held northwestern Syria, Umm Khaled says she fears her baby will die unless she gets specialist treatment in neighboring Turkiye for a congenital heart defect.
Seriously ill Syrians in the country’s last rebel bastion of Idlib used to be able to access life-saving care across the border.
But the main crossing there for medical visits slammed shut after a deadly earthquake ravaged southern Turkiye on February 6, prompting Ankara to prioritize its domestic needs.