The emir of Qatar held talks with Muslim-majority Indonesia on Wednesday, more than four months into a Saudi-led blockade against the Gulf emirate.

Bahrain's interior minister accused Iran of harbouring 160 Bahrainis convicted of terrorism and stripped of their citizenship, in an interview published Wednesday. 

Iraqi Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaybi called on British energy giant BP on Wednesday to help develop fields in the northern province of Kirkuk recovered from Kurdish forces this week.

Luaybi appealed to the firm, whose origins lie in the development of oil in then British-ruled Iraq nearly a century ago, to "quickly make plans to develop the Kirkuk oil fields". 

Israeli forces raided Palestinian media offices across the occupied West Bank overnight in what a military spokeswoman on Wednesday called a "large-scale operation" against incitement.

Iraqi government forces said Wednesday they had achieved their objectives in a lightning operation that saw them sweep through disputed Kurdish-held territory in a punishing riposte to an independence vote last month.

Iraqi forces said Wednesday they had achieved their objectives in a lightning operation that saw them sweep through disputed Kurdish-held territory in a punishing riposte to an independence vote last month.

Israeli authorities on Tuesday advanced plans for 1,292 settler homes in the occupied West Bank, in a new push by the government for such approvals, settlement watchdog Peace Now told AFP.

"They are all over the West Bank," spokeswoman Hagit Ofran said, without immediately providing a breakdown.

A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander has been killed during fighting in Syria, Iran's state media reported on Tuesday.

More than 20,000 migrants, including pregnant women and babies, are being held either in detention centers or by traffickers in Libya's people-smuggling hub Sabratha, the U.N. said Tuesday, warning of abuse "on a shocking scale."

Israel's government decided Tuesday not to negotiate with a Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas if the Islamist movement does not disarm, recognize the country and give up violence.