Lebanon welcomed a move by U.S. President Donald Trump to revoke a decades-long flight ban between the countries.
Meanwhile, attacks on the Riyadh international airport in Saudi Arabia earlier this week damaged three aircraft, officials said Saturday. Also, a drone strike in Sudan killed dozens of people, including children.
Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Saturday. Read our full coverage here.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said Trump's decision to revoke flight restrictions between Lebanon and the U.S. that were imposed four decades ago was an indication of U.S. confidence in steps taken by Lebanon to address civil aviation safety.
Direct flights between the U.S. and Lebanon were suspended in 1985 by the Reagan administration following the hijacking of TWA Flight 847.
Trump made the surprise announcement that he would allow American carriers to resume direct flights to Lebanon during a visit by Aoun to Washington in July. While he ordered the lifting of the restrictions nearly two weeks ago, the decision was publicly announced on Saturday.
The move comes after the Iran-backed Hezbollah group was severely weakened by two wars with Israel over the past two years in which many of the group’s political and military commanders were killed.
Two regional officials said Saturday that attacks by Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on Riyadh airport on Thursday damaged three planes. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to brief the media.
Three Saudi citizens were killed and several were wounded, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said Friday.
Air traffic was again disrupted Friday evening when the Houthis fired another missile at the airport, one of the officials said. Flightradar24, a flight-tracking platform, said many flights were diverted.
Fighting in Yemen between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces has escalated, with a Saudi-led coalition providing air support for Yemen's government forces in an attempt to reverse Houthi gains.
A drone strike killed at least 40 people including children in Sudan along the border with Ethiopia, according to Emergency Lawyers, a group that tracks the war.
It said the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group that has been battling Sudan's military since 2023, was responsible for Friday’s strike in the Abu Shandi area in Sudan’s Blue Nile province.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said it was appalled by the strike.
The conflict has killed at least 150,000 people, according to conflict monitor ACLED, though aid groups say the real number is likely higher.
This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
Murid Akhziq, 43, lights a fire for cooking inside his home, which was destroyed during the Israel-Hamas war, in Gaza City, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians walk along a street surrounded by buildings destroyed in Israeli military strikes during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza City, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian strikes killed at least 11 people in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, officials said Saturday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a deal to buy Russian diesel that Kyiv warned would help bankroll Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Three children were among the 11 people killed when Russian aerial bombs hit residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia, Mykhailo Semikin, the head of the regional military administration, said Saturday. At least 16 people were wounded in the attack, according to Ivan Fedorov, co-chair of the region’s defense council.
Russia and Ukraine are locked in a long-range aerial war while their armies remain largely deadlocked on the front line, more than 4 1/2 years since Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Ukraine is struggling to counter escalating Russian bombardments that have killed more than 60 people over the past four days.
The latest attacks came a day after Trump said he had struck a deal to obtain diesel from Russia, a stunning reversal of years of U.S. pressure on Moscow over its war with Ukraine and an attempt to address high fuel prices ahead of the U.S. midterm elections.
Trump said on social media on Friday that he struck the deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call in which he had been expected to discuss a suspected case of plague in Russia.
Instead, Trump announced that Russia will immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel, followed by an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons “immediately thereafter.” Russia will deliver an additional 3 million tons “within a short period of time” after that, he wrote.
Trump’s shocking announcement was in stark contrast to a sweeping Russia sanctions law he signed last month that aimed at clamping down on the oil and gas revenues that fuel Russia’s war against Ukraine.
In a lengthy post online reacting to the deal, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia would repay it “with further terror and perfidy.” He cast it as an investment in the war, allowing it to be prolonged.
“It plays into Russia’s hands — allowing it to kill more, wage war for longer, have even less respect for America, and inflict even greater losses and damage on the world,” he said.
According to a statement released by the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, Zelenskyy called it “a weak decision, unfortunately, a weak decision by strong partners.”
Trump announced the deal as his envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were meeting with Ukrainian officials in Miami to discuss a proposal to end the war.
“I believe our team is simply being used as a smoke screen. And that is certainly not fair. It is certainly not how partners should treat each other,” Zelenskyy said.
Rescue workers clear the rubble of a residential building destroyed by a Russian airstrike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
A woman reacts after pulling her relatives from the rubble of a residential building destroyed by a Russian airstrike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
A man talks on the phone while sitting on the rubble of a residential building destroyed by a Russian airstrike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
A relative speaks to a woman on a stretcher after pulling her and her husband from the rubble of a residential building destroyed by a Russian airstrike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
Rescue workers carry a body after pulling from the rubble of a residential building destroyed by a Russian airstrike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
