The replacement of Algeria's military intelligence chief, seen as a behind-the-scenes political kingmaker for a quarter of a century, marks the "end of an era," Algerian newspapers said on Monday.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika replaced General Mohamed Mediene, better known as General Toufik, on Sunday in a move that sealed his full control over the shadowy security services.

Stone-throwing may have caused a car crash that killed an Israeli motorist near a Palestinian neighborhood of Jerusalem, police said on Monday amid heightened tensions in the city.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called an "emergency meeting" of members of his cabinet to discuss ways to curb stone-throwing and petrol bombs following a number of recent incidents. 

Britain on Monday announced it had appointed a minister to deal specifically with the 20,000 Syrian refugees that the country has agreed to resettle from camps bordering the war-torn country.

"The queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of Richard Harrington MP as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State jointly at the Home Office, the Department for Communities and Local Government, and the Department for International Development," said a statement from the Downing Street office of David Cameron.

Muslims and Israeli police clashed at Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound for a second straight day Monday as Jews celebrated their new year and protesters vowed to protect Islam's third-holiest site.

As they had the day before, Israeli security forces entered the compound early on Monday to prevent Muslim youths from harassing visiting Jews, police said.

Five Saudi soldiers have died on the border with Yemen, the Saudi-led coalition said late on Sunday as forces inside Yemen began a major offensive against rebels.

A coalition statement did not say how the army soldier and four Border Guard troops died in the kingdom's southern Najran region.

Saudi Arabia's military blamed a "technical error" for a helicopter crash that killed a pilot during a training mission on Sunday.

The air force machine went down in the Taif area, more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) from the border with Yemen.

The United Nations should consider a peacekeeping force for war-ravaged Syria to help curb the surge of refugees which is destabilizing the region and beyond, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation said Sunday.

An emergency meeting of the 57-member group called on the U.N. Security Council to urgently consider creating "a multi-dimensional U.N. peacekeeping operation in Syria as a prelude to restoring security and stability in the country."

At least 80 rebels and regime fighters have been killed in six days of clashes northeast of Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said Sunday.

The deaths came in clashes that began on Tuesday when two prominent Islamist rebel groups launched simultaneous attacks on three areas outside the capital. 

Two days after a crane collapse killed 107 people at Mecca's Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia, the region's governor on Sunday filed an investigative report, official media said.

Prince Khaled al-Faisal "has submitted today the results of the investigation," the Saudi Press Agency said.

Algerian leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika has replaced his powerful intelligence chief, the presidency said on Sunday, in the latest move in a shake-up of the security forces.

The presidency said in a statement that General Mohamed Mediene, better known as Toufik, had been replaced by his deputy General Bachir Tartag after heading the DRS intelligence service for 25 years.