Weeks after his country was battered by waves of Israeli strikes and the US bombed three of its prized nuclear facilities, Iran’s foreign minister came to a gathering of regional diplomats in China this week with a simple ask.

The head of an Israeli parliamentary committee told the Finance Ministry on Thursday to come up with a compensation plan by next week for Israelis stranded abroad during last month's war with Iran or the panel would impose one.

With Israel and Iran’s shadow war spilling into Syria, the new government in Damascus has warned that "foreign actors" aim to plunge the country into a cycle of instability and chaos.