HEADLINES

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has met with Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan, to sign a joint defense agreement in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. READ MORE BELOW.

Three members of Yemen's government forces have been killed in a Houthi drone strike on Friday, adding to a death toll of at least 58 soldiers from the day before.

Iran is planning to block US and Israeli ships from the waterway as part of a deal with Oman, per state media reports. The plan would impose fees of up to 7 per cent of cargo value on commercial vessels that pass through the strait, and would levy fines of 20 per cent of cargo for ships violating Iran's conditions. READ MORE BELOW.

US President Donald Trump continues to deny reports of low munitions supplies, telling reporters on Thursday the US has "an unlimited supply" of weapons. 

An Israeli settler has been charged over the killing of a Palestinian activist in the occupied West Bank who helped film Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land. The charge, brought about by Israeli prosecutors, is the first time in three years that a settler has been indicted for killing a Palestinian in the West Bank. READ MORE BELOW.

As talks between Israel and Lebanon came to an end on Thursday in Rome without significant breakthrough, Lebanese media is reporting 'wide-scale' Israeli bombardment in the country's south on Friday. 

A blast in Syria's Damascus suburbs on Thursday has left 14 injured, with the Health Ministry reporting no fatalities. The explosion was reportedly caused by a device that was planted in a minivan taxi. A group calling itself Minbar Ansar al-Rasoul issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack, which occurred in an area home to a large population of the Druze religious minority.

Oil prices have extended their gains as fading optimism over a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz keeps prices high. International benchmark Brent crude oil is trading at approximately $82 per barrel on Friday, slightly up from Thursday.

IN DETAIL

Turkish, Saudi and Pakistani leaders meet to sign defense deal

The leaders of Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, where they signed a joint defense deal on Friday. 

While specifics of the deal, called the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, are yet to emerge, a joint statement said the pact was a collective deterrence aimed at strengthening collective security and promoting peace, security and stability in the region and beyond.

The agreement follows nearly a year of negotiations, and comes amid prolonged regional turmoil as Iran attacks the United States' Gulf allies. 

Crucially, the trilateral framework indicates a level of skepticism over an end date for the US-Israeli war in Iran, despite ongoing claims from US president Donald Trump that the conflict is nearing closure. 

While Turkish officials have insisted the deal is not aimed at any one specific actor, Tehran has attacked US bases ​and civilian infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, as well as other Gulf countries including Kuwait, ⁠Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates. 

Though Türkiye and Pakistan have avoided direct attacks, the security and economic health of both countries has taken a hit since the conflict began. For Saudi Arabia, the war has led to severe constrictions on oil exports; and relations with the US have grown tense amid three years of extended conflict in Gaza.

Abdulaziz Sager, chairman of the Gulf Research Center, a Saudi-based think tank, said the deal holds significant political symbolism. 

"Three of the Muslim world's most influential states are convening at a moment of heightened uncertainty, demonstrating a growing willingness among regional and middle ​powers to coordinate more closely on security matters."

The agreement can be likened to the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement that Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed in September 2025, which committed to treating any act of aggression against one as an act against both. The countries have confirmed that the new deal would not abrogate or ⁠replace any existing bilateral or multilateral arrangements.

The deal signifies a strengthening of relations between three countries that have been vested in each other's defense arrangements for several years. Over the Iran war, Pakistan has deployed about 8,000 troops, fighter jets, drones and an air-defense system to the Saudi kingdom, adding to the training and technical assistance it has given to Saudi forces ⁠for decades. ​

Türkiye and Pakistan have also exchanged warships and training aircraft over the years; and in 2023, Riyadh agreed to buy Turkish drones in what Ankara ​called its largest defense export contract.

Tehran threatens bans and tolls on Hormuz

Tehran is reviewing plans to ban ships from "hostile countries" including the US and Israel transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, state media reported on Thursday, with remaining commercial vessels facing tolls of seven per cent of cargo value. 

The plan would also impose fines of 20 per cent of cargo value on any ships violating Iran's conditions. 

The announcements come as an agreement on shipping routes is being ironed out with neighbour Oman, with Iran's Foreign Ministry saying that ships would enter through the strait's northern corridor near the Iranian coast and exit through the southern corridor near the Omani coast. Oman is yet to comment on the latest development. 

Eight of the world's largest shipping associations have urged the United Nations to oppose tolls in the Strait of Hormuz, insisting that such a move would "establish a precedent that could undermine the internationally recognised legal framework governing straits used for international navigation and transit passage.”

The Strait of Hormuz has been a major point of contention throughout the five-month war in Iran, due to its key role in the transit of crude oil, liquefied natural gas and fertiliser amongst other goods. 

The strait has been largely blocked by Iran as the fighting continues; however the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Iran back in June led to the strait briefly reopening. 

As this MoU unravelled in July, US president Donald Trump said he would impose a 20 per cent charge on all cargo shipped through the key oil shipping route, despite previously insisting the strait would remain toll free. He quickly reversed this decision following global outcry.

Settler charged by Israel over Palestinian activist's death 

A West Bank settler has been charged by Israeli authorities over the death of a Palestinian activist last July, marking the first indictment of its kind in three years.

Prosecutors revealed on Thursday a charge of reckless manslaughter against Yinon Levi, 33, for the death of Awdah al-Hathaleen, 31, who was fatally shot in the town of Umm al-Khair as he tried to stop settlers allegedly using an excavator to clear an unauthorized route across privately owned Palestinian land.

Reckless manslaughter is a lesser charge than murder, and carries with it a maximum sentence of 12 years.

In a statement, prosecutors said that a confrontation developed between Levi and some of the villagers, culminating in Levi firing his handgun into an area where children were also present. al-Hathaleen, who was filming about 20 meters away, was struck and killed, the statement continued. 

Al-Hathaleen was prominent in Palestinian activism spaces, and contributed to the 2025 Oscar-winning film "No Other Land", which follows the fight of Palestinian residents' in protecting their homes in the West Bank community of Masafer Yatta.

Levi has also made headlines over the years as a hardline settler. In 2021, he founded an unauthorized farm outpost in the West Bank, despite such settlements being illegal under international law. 

He was also one of the first hardline West Bank settlers to be targeted by US executive sanctions under the Biden administration, measures which were reversed when the Trump administration took over in 2025. Levi was also sanctioned by the UK, Canada and the European Union, proscriptions which are currently still in place.

The charge represents a rare occasion of Israeli settlers being held to account for violence against Palestinians. According to Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, the charges against Levi mark the first time since the October 7, 2023 attacks that an Israeli has been indicted for killing a Palestinian in the West Bank.