Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday arrived in Turkey, a Turkish official said, making his first visit since the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom's Istanbul consulate.

The oil-rich kingdom's de facto leader is due to hold a private meeting and dinner with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, marking a crucial rapprochement between the Sunni Muslim powers after a decade of hostile relations.

Tunisian President Kais Saied confirmed Tuesday that a draft constitution to be put to a referendum on July 25 will not enshrine Islam as the "religion of the state".

"The next constitution of Tunisia won't mention a state with Islam as its religion, but of belonging to an umma (community) which has Islam as its religion," he told journalists at Tunis airport.    

Israel's unlikely coalition government, the first ever backed by an Arab party, was forged a year ago to oust right-wing premier Benjamin Netanyahu, but ultimately collapsed over the Palestinian conflict.

As a result, Israel looks headed for new elections -- the fifth in less than four years -- and the threat of widening fissures between the groups that made up the eight-party "change" alliance.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for Monday's attack on a civilian bus in northern Syria that killed 13 people and wounded three.

The extremist group said in a statement late Monday that its gunmen attacked the bus with automatic rifles. It also posted photos of the attack. The Syrian army said 11 of those killed were soldiers. Three soldiers were also wounded, the military said.

A flight by private Syrian airline Cham Wings landed on Tuesday at an airport used by Russia's military in the coastal province of Latakia in western Syria, the country's state news agency reported.

The flight from the city of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates was the first to land in at the airbase since Damascus airport was damaged by an Israeli airstrike earlier this month.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has arrived in Cairo on the first leg of a Middle East tour that comes ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden's trip to the region next month.

President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt received bin Salman at the airport, a courtesy to the de-facto leader who is a steady financial backer of the Egyptian government, according to the Egyptian presidency.

Israel's weakened coalition government has announced that it would dissolve parliament and call new elections, setting the stage for the possible return to power of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or another period of prolonged political gridlock.

The election will be Israel's fifth in three years, and it will put the polarizing Netanyahu, who has been the opposition leader for the past year, back at the center of the political universe.

A delegation of Egyptian business leaders was in Israel on Monday, the first such visit in a decade, in a sign of "warming" ties between the two countries, Israeli officials said. 

Israel's defense minister on Monday said that Israel is helping build a U.S.-led regional air-defense alliance against Iran, and that the partnership has already thwarted attempted Iranian attacks.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz said he expected the upcoming visit by President Joe Biden to the region to further strengthen this alliance.

Rival Libyan factions failed to reach an agreement after wrapping up a third round of U.N.-mediated talks in Egypt, the United Nations said Monday, further complicating international efforts to find a way out of the country's decade-old chaos.

According to the U.N. special adviser on Libya, Stephanie Williams, lawmakers from Libya's east-based parliament and the High Council of State, based in the capital of Tripoli in the country's west, concluded their final round of negotiations on constitutional amendments for elections late Sunday in Cairo without a breakthrough.