Kazakhstan said Tuesday that the next talks to try to thrash out a Syria peace plan in its capital Astana may be held in mid-September, after Russia had planned to hold them in late August.

U.S.-led coalition strikes on Sunday killed 27 civilians in part of Syria's Raqa city held by the Islamic State group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.

Iraqi forces closed in Monday on Tal Afar on the second day of an offensive against the last major bastion of the Islamic State group in the country's north, after seizing several villages around the city.

A hotel in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca, where two million Muslims will perform the annual hajj pilgrimage, was evacuated Monday after a fire broke out, the civil defence service said. 

Two months into a bitter Gulf crisis, Saudi Arabia's use of a previously unknown Qatari royal family member has opened a new -- and bizarre -- front in the conflict.

On August 17, it was announced that Saudi's King Salman had ordered the reopening of the Qatar border to allow pilgrims from the emirate to join the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

Qatar on Monday denied it had banned Saudi Arabian flights from landing in the emirate to transport Muslim pilgrims to Mecca, after an accusation by authorities in Riyadh. 

Countries that want to reopen embassies in Damascus or resume ties with Syria's government must end their support for Syria's rebels, President Bashar al-Assad said on Sunday.

Rocket fire injured several people Sunday near the entrance to the Damascus International Fair, a key business gathering being held for the first time in five years, Syrian television said.

The Iraqi city of Tal Afar is the main remaining stronghold of the Islamic State group in the country's north after the jihadists lost Mosul last month.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Russia on Wednesday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, mainly focusing on the war in Syria, his office said late Saturday.