An IDF soldier who was found in serious condition at a base in southern Israel on Friday was pronounced dead on Saturday, Israeli media reported.Military police have opened an investigation into the incident.

More than 50 people were killed near Mali's northeastern city of Gao on Friday after armed assailants ambushed their convoy and its army escort, a local official and residents said.The attackers struck near the village of Kobe, around 30 km. (19 miles) from Gao, in a region where affiliates of Islamic State and Al Qaeda have been active for over a decade, destabilizing Mali and its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger."People jumped out of vehicles to flee. There were many dead and wounded civilians," the local official said on Saturday, speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.Up to 56 bodies were recorded at the hospital in Gao, the official said, adding that there was also an unknown number of military casualties.The Malian army did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said on Saturday that his meetings with Syria's new leaders in Damascus were a "first step" towards ending years of strained relations on chemical arms under now-toppled leader Bashar al-Assad."This visit lays the ground for working together towards closing the Syrian chemical weapons file for good and fostering long-term compliance, regional stability, and contributing to peace and international security," Director General Fernando Arias said in a written statement, after meeting Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani in Damascus.

The Israeli air force conducted an intelligence-based strike on Hezbollah terrorists in the area of the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon, the IDF announced Saturday evening.The strike targeted terrorists operating in a weapons manufacturing and storage site belonging to the terrorist organization. "The activity at the site is a broad violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon," the IDF said. "The IDF continues to operate to remove any threat to the State of Israel and will prevent any attempt by the Hezbollah terrorist organization to rebuild its forces, in accordance with the ceasefire understandings," the military added.