Biden administration embraces mission to normalize Arab-Israeli ties: Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Friday said that the US will work to encourage more Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel, Reuters reports. His comments came during a virtual meeting with Israeli, Emirati, Bahraini and Israeli officials to mark the one-year anniversary of the signing of the Abraham Accords. Blinken said the US would work to foster ties between Israel and its co-signers, as well as Sudan — which also normalized relations with Israel following the signing of the accords last year — and Egypt and Jordan, which have long-standing peace deals with Israel.

Iran has started exporting fuel to crisis-hit Lebanon: Hezbollah started importing gas from Iran on Thursday to ease Lebanon’s energy crisis, Reuters reported. Hezbollah plans to donate the oil to government hospitals and orphanages and sell it at “an appropriate price” to others including private hospitals, medical storage facilities and flour mills.