Hizbullah announced on Friday the death of its prominent commander Mustafa Badreddine in an attack in the Syrian capital Damascus.

The party did not disclose the nature of the blast that killed Badreddine, speculating that it could have been on the ground or that it may have been an airstrike.

A Hizbullah minister warned during a cabinet session Thursday that a “red line” was crossed, after two Lebanese banks reportedly suspended three Hizbullah-linked accounts in conformity with a U.S. sanctions law.

“Two Lebanese banks have suspended the accounts of two Loyalty to Resistance bloc MPs and the account of the daughter of an ex-MP who was in the bloc,” MTV and LBCI reported.

Activists say a coalition of Syrian rebels and hard-line jihadists have seized a strategic village from pro-government forces just 6 kilometers (4 miles) from the contested city of Aleppo.

The Britain-based monitoring group The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at Friday that least 43 insurgents and 30 pro-government fighters died in the battle for Khan Touman.

Lebanese authorities have arrested a dual Syrian-Australian national in northern Lebanon on suspicion of terrorism, Lebanese security officials said.

The man, identified as Mark Eddie Maximus, was arrested by military intelligence in the northern city of Tripoli over the weekend. He was picked up after authorities tracked the car he was driving.

Massive forest fires are sweeping through the north Indian state of Uttarakhand and have killed at least seven people in recent weeks with no signs of abating.

The Indian government joined state firefighters over the weekend in trying to douse the blaze. Air force helicopters were deployed Sunday to drop water on the fires tearing through hundreds of acres (hectares) of pine forests.

It was a brutal killing that became an international incident: An Italian graduate student disappeared from the streets of the Egyptian capital in January, his body discovered days later dumped by a roadside, tortured to death.

The death of Guilio Regeni quickly poisoned ties between Egypt and Italy, where suspicions were high that Egyptian police — who have long been accused of using torture and secret detentions — snatched the 28-year-old and killed him. Egyptian officials — as high up as the president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, in a national address — have denied any police role, but in the months since the slayings, the Italian government has hiked the pressure for answers.

Seattle police used pepper spray to disperse black-clad anti-capitalist protesters authorities say threw rocks, flares, bricks and Molotov cocktails at officers during a rowdy May Day gathering.

At least nine people were arrested Sunday evening. Authorities said five officers were hurt, none seriously.

Jordan is permitting a popular Lebanese rock band to perform, lifting an earlier ban imposed amid claims the group's songs promoting religious and sexual freedom violate local customs and religious beliefs.

Khalid Abu Zeid, a regional politician who initially announced the ban against "Mashrou Leila," or Leila's Project, said in a new statement that "we don't mind if this concert takes place." He didn't elaborate.

Iranians voted Friday in second round elections for almost a quarter of seats in parliament, the latest political showdown between reformists and conservatives seeking to influence the country's future.

The polls will decide who has the most power when lawmakers are sworn in next month, opening or closing a path to limited social and political change in the Islamic republic.

Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh has said Lebanese banks will not be able to circumvent a U.S. law that imposes sanctions on banks, which knowingly do business with Hizbullah.

Salameh told LBCI’s Kalam al-Nass talk show on Thursday night that the Central Bank will issue two circulars that urge Lebanese banks to implement the law and inform it about the closure and opening of accounts.