DAMASCUS -- A deadly attack on a Sunni Bedouin couple in central Syria's Homs province triggered widespread unrest on Sunday, prompting authorities to deploy security forces, impose a curfew, and urge residents to avoid retaliatory violence amid fears of sectarian escalation.

The unrest followed the early Sunday discovery of a man and his wife from the Bani Khalid Bedouin tribe, killed inside their home in the town of Zaidal, with the woman's body partially burned. Sectarian-charged graffiti was found at the scene, according to interior authorities. (Syria-Unrest)

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BEIRUT/JERUSALEM -- An Israeli airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs killed senior Hezbollah commander Haytham Ali Al-Tabtabi on Sunday, the Israeli military and the Lebanese group said, a high-profile assassination that further strains a year-old ceasefire.

Hezbollah confirmed Al-Tabtabi's death in what it termed a "treacherous Israeli attack" on the Haret Hreik district, stating he died "in sacrifice for Lebanon and its people." The group described him as one of its most prominent commanders, a central figure in its military operations against Israel since the organization's early years. (Israel-Hezbollah-Assassination)

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LONDON -- The Royal Navy has intercepted a Russian warship and a tanker off the British coast in a shadowing operation in the past fortnight, local media quoted Britain's defense ministry as saying on Sunday.

HMS Severn, a Royal Navy patrol vessel, shadowed the RFN Stoikiy corvette and a tanker vessel, which sailed through the Dover Strait and westward through the English Channel, the ministry said, without specifying the time of interception. (UK-Russia-Intercept)

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GENEVA -- U.S. and Ukrainian representatives said on Sunday that their talks in Geneva on the 28-point plan to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict had "made progress," but details are unsettled as differences need to be narrowed down.

Following a meeting between the Ukrainian delegation and national security advisers from Britain, France, and Germany, the Ukrainian side held bilateral talks with the U.S. representatives later in the day. (US-Ukraine-Talks) Enditem