Lebanon’s Daily Star newspaper woke up in a good mood on Tuesday morning, declaring “Ray of hope shines on Beirut as both sides see ‘open door’ ” on its front page as hopes grew that simmering sectarian tensions would abate.

A joint US/Iraqi drive to wrest back control of Baghdad from militias appears to be making progress, with no major incidents in the capital today.

Police scuffled on Friday with Muslims protesting Israeli construction outside a disputed Jerusalem holy site, but the scattered clashes were quickly contained and no one was seriously hurt, police said.