DAMASCUS: The Syrian government has agreed to extend by another three months the use of two border crossings with Turkiye into the rebel-held northwest that were opened for aid delivery after a deadly earthquake in February, Syrian and UN officials said Saturday.
Syrian President Bashar Assad had agreed to open the border crossings at Bab Al-Salameh and Al-Rai for three months to allow aid to flow into Idlib province a week after the Feb. 6, earthquake that hit southern Turkiye and northern Syria.

KHARTOUM: Airstrikes pummeled Khartoum on Saturday, with representatives of Sudan’s warring factions meeting in Saudi Arabia for talks to prevent a “humanitarian catastrophe” as the fighting entered a fifth week.

ANTAKYA: At a bus station in Antakya, a city razed to the ground by Turkiye’s devastating earthquake, emotions remain raw and voters divided ahead of Sunday’s pivotal elections.
The Yener family’s building partially collapsed in February’s 7.8-magnitude tremor, which killed more than 50,000 people and unleashed a wave of anger at the government’s delayed rescue and recovery work.
Like many others forced to flee their homes in this ancient cradle of civilizations near the Syrian border, they returned to take part in Turkiye’s biggest vote of modern times.

GAZA: Israel and the militant Islamic Jihad movement in Gaza have agreed a truce that will go into effect at 10 p.m. (1900 GMT), Palestinian officials said, signalling an end to the worst episode of cross-border fire since a 10-day war in 2021.
Egypt, which brokered the ceasefire, called on all sides to adhere to the agreement, Egypt’s Al-Qahera News television channel reported.

BEIRUT: Drug gang and human trafficking ringleaders were arrested in a joint security operation targeting smuggling hotspots on the Lebanon-Syria border on Saturday.
Large quantities of drugs, weapons and ammunitions were also seized in the combined Lebanese Army and Intelligence Directorate operation, which struck several locations in the northern Bekaa Valley simultaneously.