Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said he valued an offer by US President Donald Trump to mediate a dispute over Nile River waters between Egypt and Ethiopia.
In a post on social media platform X, Sisi said on Saturday that he addressed Trump's letter by affirming Egypt's position and concerns about the country's water security in regard to Ethiopia's disputed Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
On Friday, Trump said that he was ready to restart US mediation between Egypt and Ethiopia to resolve the dispute over the Ethiopian dam, which both Egypt and Sudan consider a serious threat to vital water supplies.
Egypt has long opposed the project because of worries about its future supplies of water from the Nile, on which it is heavily dependent. Sudan, another downstream country, has expressed concern about the regulation and safety of its own water supplies and dams.
Sudan's army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan also welcomed Trump's mediation offer on Saturday.
Ethiopia, the continent's second-most populous nation with more than 120 million people, sees the $5 billion dam on a tributary of the Nile as central to its economic ambitions. It has repeatedly rejected Egypt's claims.
Israel pounded Lebanon with more than 120 air strikes on Tuesday in one of the heaviest days of bombing in weeks, Lebanese security sources said, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his military was deepening its operations in the country.
Syria's transitional leadership has located remnants of former President Bashar al-Assad's clandestine chemical weapons programme, including raw materials and munitions similar to those used to carry out deadly gas attacks during the country's long-running civil war.
US President Donald Trump, who turns 80 next month, said "everything checked out perfectly" after having his physical on Tuesday at Walter Reed National Military Medical ​Center, following a year of public attention on apparently minor health issues.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday negotiating a deal with Iran could "take a few days," quashing hopes for an imminent end to the conflict a day after US forces conducted what Washington called defensive strikes in southern Iran.