Pakistan to host regional powers to discuss how to end war in the Middle East

Regional powers design to encounter on lord's day in west pakistan to discuss how to terminate the fighting in the Middle East, as about 2,500 U.S. Marines arrived in the region and Iranian-backed Houthi rebels from Yemen entered the month-long war.

Pakistan said Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt will send top diplomats to Islamabad for talks. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian held "extensive discussions" on regional hostilities.

The war, which began when the U.S. And Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, has threatened global supplies of oil and natural gas, sparked fertilizer shortages, disrupted air travel and killed thousands of civilians. Iran's grip on the strategic Strait of Hormuz has shaken markets and prices.

The United States and Israel continue to strike Iran, whose retaliatory attacks have targeted Israel and neighbouring Gulf Arab states. More than 3,000 people have been killed.

The Houthis' entry could further hurt global shipping if they again target vessels in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the Red Sea, through which about 12 per cent of the world's trade typically passes.

Egypt's top diplomat met his Pakistani counterpart in Islamabad on Sunday to discuss efforts to help bring the U.S. And Iran back to the negotiating table and ease tensions in the region, officials said.

Pakistani Foreign Affairs Minister Ishaq Dar and Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Badr Abdelatty will hold bilateral talks on regional developments, according to a statement by Pakistan's Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Yemen's Houthis enter the Iran war, target Israel with strikes

The Egyptian Foreign Affairs Ministry said the meeting will discuss "the developments of the military escalation and de-escalation efforts in the region."

During a stop in Qatar on Saturday, Abdelatty said their efforts aim to establish a "direct dialogue" between the U.S. And Iran.

Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Hakan Fidan arrived in Pakistan late Saturday. Saudi Arabia's top diplomat is expected in Islamabad on Sunday.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned on Sunday said it would consider Israeli universities and branches of American universities in the region "legitimate targets," state media reported.

"If the U.S. Government wants its universities in the region spared, it should condemn the bombardment of [Iranian] universities by 12 o'clock Monday, March 30, in an official statement," the IRGC said in a statement, urging the evacuations of American and Israeli educational facilities and telling students and staff to stay at least one kilometre away.

It also demanded that the U.S. Stop Israel from striking Iranian universities and research centres, which have been under fire in recent days. This is the first time Iran has threatened to strike Israeli and American universities.

'No Kings' protests take aim at war on Iran, Trump's actions

The Latin Patriarchate said Jerusalem police prevented the Catholic Church's senior leaders from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem for the Palm Sunday mass.

It was "the first time in centuries" that church leaders were prevented from celebrating Palm Sunday at the place where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, the Patriarchate said.

"Preventing the entry of the Cardinal and the Custos, who bear the highest ecclesiastical responsibility for the Catholic Church and Holy Places, constitutes a manifestly unreasonable and grossly disproportionate measure," the Latin Patriarchate said.

The Jerusalem police did not comment.

Pope Leo XIV has rejected claims that God justifies war and offered prayers for Christians in the Middle East during a mass on Palm Sunday. In his homily in St. Peter's Square, he insisted that God is the "king of peace" who rejects violence and comforts those who are oppressed.

"Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war," Leo said. "He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them."

He said he was praying for Christians "suffering the consequences of an atrocious conflict. In many cases, they cannot live fully the rites of these holy days."

At a Christian worship service at the Pentagon on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth prayed for American bullets to hit their targets.

"Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation," he said during the livestreamed service.

He also asked for U.S. Personnel to be given "wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy."

Two Israeli strikes early Sunday killed six Palestinians, including three police officers, in the Gaza Strip, hospital authorities said.

One strike hit a police checkpoint while another hit a group of people in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies.

The Israeli military didn't immediately comment on the strikes.

The people killed were the latest fatalities among Palestinians in the coastal enclave since an October ceasefire deal attempted to halt a two-year war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. As of Wednesday, 673 Palestinians have reportedly been killed since the ceasefire began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Israel's military said early Sunday that a soldier had been killed while three others were wounded in combat in southern Lebanon, as Israel expands its invasion there. The Israeli military identified the dead soldier as Sgt. Moshe Yitzchak Hacohen Katz, originally from New Haven, Conn.

This brings the total to five Israeli soldiers killed in southern Lebanon since the conflict with Hezbollah reignited after the militant group fired rockets into Israel on March 2.

Interceptions and drone activity were heard for hours overnight Saturday across Irbil, the capital of the semiautonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, including drones shot down while attempting to target the U.S. Consulate and nearby bases.

Associated Press journalists in the area reported non-stop loud explosions and saw at least one drone headed toward American facilities, in one of the most intense days of attacks since the war began.

Iran-aligned militias in Iraq have stepped up repeated drone and missile attacks on U.S. Bases, including in Irbil.

In a statement on Saturday, the U.S. Condemned what it called "despicable terrorist attacks" by Iran's militant groups, saying the strikes on Kurdish regional President Nechirvan Barzani's residence in Irbil earlier that day were "a direct assault on Iraq's sovereignty, stability and unity." The attack caused material damage but no casualties, and the residence was empty at the time.

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