Syria's foreign minister has told Saudi Arabian officials that the new leadership in Damascus wants to set up a government involving all parts of Syrian society following the overthrow of Bashar Al-Assad last month.

Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shibani was making the first foreign trip by a member of Syria's new administration as Western and regional powers seek signs on whether it will impose strict Islamic rule or show inclusivity in government, Reuters reported.

Al-Shibani and Syria's defence minister met with Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman in Riyadh on Thursday.

"Through our visit, we conveyed our national vision of establishing a government based on partnership and efficiency that includes all Syrian components, and working to launch an economic development plan that opens the way for investment, establishes strategic partnerships, and improves living and service conditions," Al-Shibani said in a post on X.

Since ousting Assad on Dec. 8, Islamist rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) have sought to reassure Arab countries and the international community that they will govern on behalf of all Syrians and not export Islamist revolution.

HTS was al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate until it broke off ties in 2016.

Saudi Arabia backed the rebels who fought Assad at the onset of the Syrian civil war.

More recently, Riyadh had embarked on a path of normalising ties with the Assad government, paving the way for Syria to return to the Arab League in 2023, in an effort to reduce Iranian influence in the country and to stem the flow of drugs including the methamphetamine captagon.

A Saudi source close to the government told Reuters the kingdom was committed to safeguarding the peace in Syria and that fostering stability was a top priority.

"At this critical juncture, our focus is on delivering essential humanitarian aid to the people of Syria, and we are exploring opportunities for expanded assistance in collaboration with regional partners," the source added.

The Palestinian Authority temporarily halted operations of Qatar's Al Jazeera television in the territory including its broadcasts, citing the network's dissemination of "inciting material," the Palestinian news agency WAFA said on Wednesday.

The culture, interior and communications ministers made the decision jointly because the channel broadcast material that was "deceiving and stirring strife," WAFA said without providing details on the subject matter, Reuters reported.

The order said the decision was temporary but did not specify an end date.

The Palestinian Authority criticised Al Jazeera last week over its coverage of the weeks-long standoff between Palestinian security forces and militant fighters in the Jenin camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Al Jazeera denounced Wednesday's decision as "an attempt to discourage it from reporting spiraling events in the occupied territories," according to a statement.

It called on the Palestinian Authority to rescind the decision and allow its journalists to report freely from the West Bank without intimidation.

The decision was not expected to be implemented in Hamas-run Gaza where the Palestinian Authority does not exercise power.

Fatah, the faction that controls the Palestinian Authority, said the broadcaster was sowing division in "our Arab homeland in general and in Palestine in particular". It encouraged Palestinians not to cooperate with the network.

The Israeli military in September raided Al Jazeera's bureau in the West Bank city of Ramallah and ordered it shut.

Israel in May issued an order barring the channel from operating and broadcasting in the country, saying it posed a threat to Israeli security. A court subsequently upheld the ban.

The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on entities in Iran and Russia, accusing them of attempting to interfere in the 2024 U.S. election, Reuters reported.

The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement the entities - a subsidiary of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and an organization affiliated with Russia's military intelligence agency (GRU) - aimed to "stoke socio-political tensions and influence the U.S. electorate during the 2024 U.S. election".

"The Governments of Iran and Russia have targeted our election processes and institutions and sought to divide the American people through targeted disinformation campaigns," Treasury's Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Bradley Smith, said in the statement.

"The United States will remain vigilant against adversaries who would undermine our democracy."

Russia's embassy in Washington said in a statement to Reuters: "Russia has not and does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, including the United States."

"As President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stressed, we respect the will of the American people. All insinuations about 'Russian machinations' are malicious slander, invented for use in the internal political struggles in the United States," the spokesperson added.

Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment, read the report.

Republican Donald Trump was elected president in November, beating Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and capping a remarkable comeback four years after he was voted out of the White House.

The Treasury said the Cognitive Design Production Center planned influence operations since at least 2023 designed to incite tensions among the electorate on behalf of the IRGC.

The Treasury accused the Moscow-based Center for Geopolitical Expertise (CGE) of circulating disinformation about candidates in the election as well as directing and subsidizing the creation of deepfakes.

The Treasury said CGE also manipulated a video to produce "baseless accusations concerning a 2024 vice presidential candidate." It did not specify which candidate was targeted.

The Moscow-based center, at the direction of the GRU, used generative AI tools to create disinformation distributed across a network of websites that were designed to look like legitimate news outlets, the Treasury said.

It accused the GRU of providing financial support to CGE and a network of U.S.-based facilitators in order to build and maintain its AI-support server and maintain a network of at least 100 websites used in its disinformation operations, Reuters reported.

CGE's director was also hit with sanctions in Tuesday's action.

An annual U.S. threat assessment released in October said the United States sees a growing threat of Russia, Iran and China attempting to influence the elections, including by using artificial intelligence to disseminate fake or divisive information.