President Donald Trump said Thursday that the U.S. launched a "powerful and deadly" strike against Islamic State forces in Nigeria, after spending weeks accusing the West African country's government of failing to rein in the persecution of Christians.

In a Christmas evening post on his social media site, Trump did not provide details or mention the extent of the damage caused by the strikes in Sokoto state.

Saudi Arabia, the main backer of Yemen's internationally-recognized government, conducted air strikes on separatist positions in Hadramawt on Friday, according to local media and the UAE-backed separatist Southern Transitional Council.

"The Saudi Air Force bombed positions of the Hadrami Elite Forces in Wadi Nahb in Hadramawt," the separatist-linked Aden Independent Channel said in a social media post. Saudi officials would not immediately confirm the operation.

Australian police are investigating a "suspicious fire" after a car carrying a sign celebrating the Jewish festival of Hanukkah was set ablaze Thursday in Melbourne.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a nuclear submarine factory and received a message from Russia's Vladimir Putin hailing the countries' "invincible friendship", Pyongyang's state media said Thursday.

Israeli authorities announced on Thursday the arrest of an Israeli man on suspicion of committing security offenses under the direction of Iranian intelligence agents, days after Tehran executed an Iranian accused of spying for Israel.

A former Syrian intelligence officer who was close to one of ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad's top army commanders was killed in Lebanon, a judicial official said, with the army announcing it had arrested a suspect.

Lebanese authorities are investigating the recent disappearance of a retired security officer whose brother was allegedly involved in the 1986 capture of an Israeli air force navigator, a Lebanese judicial official told AFP.

Ukraine won some concessions in the latest version of a U.S.-led draft plan to end the Russian invasion, revealed by President Volodymyr Zelensky, though key questions remain over territory and whether Moscow could accept the new terms.

Damascus' foreign and defense ministers met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday during a visit to Moscow where they discussed military cooperation, Syrian state media said.

The Israeli army said Wednesday that it had identified a Hamas financial official it killed two weeks ago in a strike in the Gaza Strip.