An Israel-bound plane diverts to Saudi Arabia for emergency landing and other Mideast developments

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Saudi Arabia had arrested the pilot of a FlyDubai flight who stabbed another pilot and apparently tried to crash a plane full of Israelis.

Netanyahu said passengers and crew members on the flight managed to subdue the attacker, preventing a “major disaster.”

“I salute these heroes who showed exceptional resourcefulness and courage. They saved many lives and prevented a major disaster,” said Netanyahu in his Wednesday statement.

A fight between pilots on the commercial plane traveling from the United Arab Emirates to Israel forced the aircraft to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

Concerns about a possible airplane hijacking briefly gripped Israel, while the Lebanese army said that the latest Israeli strike in southern Lebanon wounded a soldier and three civilians.

Meanwhile, in Iran, authorities executed two people accused of violence against security forces during the country’s January protests. And the last U.S. forces left Iraq, under a Washington-Baghdad deal from two years ago.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Wednesday. Full coverage is available here.

A fight erupted between the pilot and co-pilot on a commercial FlyDubai plane traveling from the United Arab Emirates to Israel, forcing it to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, reports said.

The episode briefly raised concerns about a possible hijacking of a plane carrying dozens of Israelis and prompted Israel to scramble warplanes.

FlyDubai, the airline operating the flight, confirmed that an incident forced the plane to be diverted and to land at the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport in the Saudi city of Tabuk.

All the passengers were safe, but there was suspicion that there may have been an attempt to attack Israelis on the plane and an investigation was ongoing, an Israeli official said on condition of anonymity because the incident was under investigation.

— By Samy Magdy in Cairo, and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel

Officials at Shifa Hospital said on Wednesday that one Israeli strike killed a woman and critically wounded her husband in Gaza City, while another struck a bus, killing four and wounding at least 14.

Elsewhere in the territory, a strike in Khan Younis wounded four Palestinians, officials at Nasser Hospital said.

Israel’s military didn’t immediately respond to questions about the bus strike, but said it was reviewing information about the strike in Khan Younis.

The strikes were the latest of almost daily attacks since Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire nearly a year ago, halting the heaviest of the fighting.

Israeli forces have carried out repeated airstrikes and frequently fire on Palestinians near military-held zones, killing more than 1,400 Palestinians since the ceasefire, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which maintains detailed records that are generally seen as reliable. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed in combatant attacks over the same time period, while two more were killed by friendly fire.

Iran executed two men on Wednesday over what it said was their role in violence during nationwide anti-government protests in January, state media reported.

IRNA, citing the judiciary, said that the men took part in unrest in the northeastern city of Mashhad that left four security officers dead. The judiciary said that the men confessed to the violence, including setting fires and damaging public property. It also said that one had confessed to stabbing a member of Iran’s paramilitary force. Iran’s Supreme Court upheld the sentences before they were carried out Wednesday morning.

The unrest began Dec. 28 amid anger over Iran’s collapsing currency and worsening economy and quickly spread across the country. Iranian authorities responded with a deadly crackdown.

Dozens of Iranians have since been executed in connection with the protests, according to state media in Iran. Executions aren’t uncommon in Iran, where rights groups say the accused are often tried in secretive courts based on forced confessions extracted through torture.

The U.S. military announced on Wednesday that it had completed the withdrawal of its troops from Iraq, ending a 12-year mission to fight the Islamic State group.

Baghdad touted the move as a sign of the country’s growing strength and sovereignty. It was also celebrated by Iran-backed groups, but raised concerns among some other Iraqis, particularly in the Kurdish region.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, in a statement, called it an “orderly departure” and said that the withdrawal “marks a transition from a wartime coalition mission to an Iraqi-led security effort supported by a more normal bilateral security relationship.”

The Lebanese army said that a soldier was seriously wounded in an explosion in the village of Nabatiyeh al-Fawqa on Wednesday. Three civilians were also wounded, it said.

Initially, the army said the soldier’s vehicle had been targeted by an Israeli strike, but later it said that the explosion was caused by a “suspicious object.” The army was escorting residents of the area in southern Lebanon to visit their houses, it said.

In June, the Lebanese and Israeli governments reached an agreement under which the Israeli military would withdraw gradually from southern Lebanon and allow the Lebanese army to take control, in exchange for disarming the militant Hezbollah group. However, implementation of the deal has stalled.

This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.