Syrian and Russian forces will deploy in northeast Syria to remove Kurdish YPG fighters and their weapons from the border with Turkey under a deal agreed yesterday which both Moscow and Ankara hailed as a triumph.

US forces that crossed into Iraq as part of a pull-out from Syria do not have permission to stay and can only be there in transit, the Iraqi military said on Tuesday.

Lebanon approved an emergency reform package yesterday in response to protests over dire economic conditions, but the moves did not go far enough to persuade demonstrators to leave the streets or investors to halt a plunge in its bonds.

Lebanon's teetering government was expected Monday to approve a belated economic rescue plan as the nation prepared for a fifth day of mass protests against the ruling elite.

United States troops have crossed into Iraq from Syria through the Sahela border crossing in the northern province of Dohuk, Reuters witnesses said on Monday.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said yesterday they had withdrawn from the border town of Ras Al Ain under a US-brokered ceasefire deal, but a spokesman for Turkish-backed Syrian rebels said the withdrawal was not yet complete.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri agreed yesterday a package of reforms with government partners to ease an economic crisis that has sparked protests aimed at ousting a ruling elite they see as riddled with corruption and cronyism.

Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese took to the streets to condemn political stasis and corruption Sunday, the largest in four days of demonstrations that have crippled the country and threatened the coalition government.

Top US officials expressed confidence Sunday that a cease-fire in northern Syria was holding despite skirmishes between Kurdish and Turkish forces.

Turkey and Russia will discuss the removal of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia from the northern Syrian towns of Manbij and Kobani during talks in Sochi next week

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Saturday that all of the nearly 1,000 troops withdrawing from northern Syria are expected to move to western Iraq

Tens of thousands took to the streets of Lebanon yesterday for a third day of anti-government protests, directing growing rage at a political elite they blame for entrenched cronyism and driving the country to the economic brink.