Released Hezbollah fighters arrive in Lebanon from Syria

Although US military withdrawal raises the risk of terrorist activity, experts say the Taliban will likely value pursuing international recognition of their rule over harboring militants.

In northern Nigeria dozens of fighters from jihadist group Boko Haram have been handing in their weapons, seeking reintegration into society. The government claims the credit, though the full reasons are less clear. And not everyone is ready to accept them back into the fold.

Supporters of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah staged a protest after a court dismissed a legal complaint about the judge investigating the 2020 Beirut port explosion.

The Australian government said the militant group poses a "real" and "credible" threat to country. The group is already banned in the US, Israel, and Germany.

Militants killed at least 31 people in central Mali on Friday (December 3) when they fired upon a bus ferrying people to a local market, local authorities said - the latest deadly attack in a region racked by violent insurgency. The bus was attacked by unidentified gunmen as it travelled its twice-weekly route from the village of Songho to a market in Bandiagara, 10 kilometres (6 miles) away, said Moulaye Guindo, mayor of the nearby town of Bankass.

"King, the terrorist is the one who has exported ... Daeshi ideology to the world, and it is you," Nasrallah said in a speech, using an acronym for Islamic State, the hardline Islamist group that declared a caliphate straddling parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014. His comments were criticised by Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati who said the criticism of Saudi Arabia did not serve the national interest or represent the country's official stance. Saudi Arabia and a number of other Gulf Arab states withdrew ambassadors and expelled Lebanese envoys in October and November over what the kingdom later said was arch-foe Hezbollah's dominance of the Lebanese state.

The end of the standoff clears the way for ministers to meet after a three-month gap and come up with a plan to stop the country's economic meltdown.

The French army on Saturday said it killed 40 militants in Burkina Faso. According to a statement posted on Twitter, the militants were "neutralized" during a joint operation with Burkinabe armed forces. The statement went on to say that the armed "terrorist group" was responsible for two attacks in neighboring Benin.

Islamabad has issued a warning to Afghanistan's Taliban leadership, accusing it of giving shelter to militants. In turn, the Taliban claim Pakistani bombings recently killed dozens of civilians on Afghan soil.

Israel has responded to rocket attacks from Gaza with airstrikes, as a month of deadly violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories continues to escalate.

Mali's army repels a terrorist attack on its largest military base, located on the outskirts of Bamako. Seven attackers were killed and eight arrested in the assault.

Israel and the Islamic Jihad group announced that a cease-fire would come into effect Sunday night. The truce could end the worst cross-border conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants since last year.