JEDDAH: A delegation of senior Arab parliamentarians met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus on Sunday, another sign of thawing ties after more than a decade of isolation over the conflict in Syria.

The heads of the Iraqi, Jordanian, Palestinian, Libyan, Egyptian and UAE houses of representatives, as well as representatives from Oman and Lebanon, traveled to Syria as part of a delegation from the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union.

They met with Syrian parliamentarians and with Assad, according to pro-regime news agency SANA.

JERUSALEM: Scores of Israeli settlers went on a violent rampage in the northern West Bank late Sunday, setting dozens of cars and homes on fire after two settlers were killed by a Palestinian gunman. Palestinian medics said one man was killed and four others were badly wounded in what appeared to be the worst outburst of settler violence in decades.

Israelis from the Har Bracha settlement went on a rampage after a Palestinian gunman killed two Israeli brothers as they were driving in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, according to officials.

CAIRO: A high-school student, who said she was bullied by her classmates, has died following a heart attack.

Rodina Osama, 16, was studying in the first year of secondary school at a private establishment in Giza Governorate, south of Egypt.

It was claimed that some of the student’s female colleagues attacked her and addressed her with offensive words, describing her as ugly.

Osama filed a complaint against them to school administrators but received no response.

AL-MUKALLA: A commercial ship, carrying 724 containers of various items, docked at Yemen’s western port city of Hodeidah for the first time in seven years, the Iran-backed Houthis — who control the port — said on Saturday.

Abdul Wahab Al-Durra, the Houthi minister of transportation, told reporters that container, fuel, and other commodity ships had begun entering ports from Djibouti, where they were examined under the UN Yemen Verification and Inspection Mechanism.  

ANKARA: Turkiye has begun work to rebuild homes following this month’s devastating earthquakes as the combined death toll in Turkiye and Syria surpassed 50,000.

Over 160,000 buildings containing 520,000 apartments collapsed or were severely damaged in the Feb. 6 earthquakes that killed tens of thousands in Turkiye and Syria.

The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority announced the death toll in Turkiye rose to 44,218 on Friday night. With Syria’s latest announced death toll of 5,914, the combined death toll in the two countries rose to above 50,000.