Israeli MPs are to return from summer recess next week to discuss mounting criticism of a new law proclaiming the country the nation state of the Jewish people, parliament said Tuesday.

Human Rights Watch called on Tuesday for investigations into the "rampant" use of torture against people arrested on suspicion of belonging to the Islamic State group. 

Dozens of Islamic State group fighters were cornered in a pocket of Syria's Daraa on Tuesday after losing all other territory there to a Russian-backed regime assault, a monitor said. 

An Israeli court on Tuesday sentenced an Arab woman to five months in prison for incitement to violence and support for a terrorist organisation in poems and other social media posts, the justice ministry said.

The UN peace envoy for Syria said Tuesday that he plans to host Iran, Russia and Turkey for talks in September on finalising a committee to write a new Syrian constitution.

Yemen's Huthi rebels are still arming themselves with ballistic missiles and drones that "show characteristics similar" to Iranian-made weapons, a report by a UN panel of experts has found.

Barrels of oil, sacks of sugar, crates piled with fruit: goods worth millions of dollars criss-cross Syria's battlefronts daily, waved through by bitter enemies who have become business partners.

Syria's regime, rebels, Kurds, and even jihadists are linking up with well-connected businessmen to turn a profit at crossings connecting otherwise divided territory.

Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi said Monday she was deeply changed by her eight-month sentence in an Israeli jail for slapping two soldiers, but does not regret any of her actions.

Tamimi, who was 16 when she was arrested in December for hitting and kicking soldiers in front of her house in the occupied West Bank, was released Sunday and swarmed by media from across the globe.

Syria's Druze minority, targeted by deadly Islamic State group attacks and kidnappings last week in Sweida, had managed to keep itself relatively insulated from the country's seven-year war.

Egyptian police are investigating the death of a Coptic Christian bishop who was found dead in his monastery northwest of Cairo on Sunday, the Coptic Church said.