The interim UN envoy for Libya, Stephanie Williams, on Wednesday denounced what she called "blatant" ongoing violations of the arms embargo in effect on the war-wracked country.

Presumed Israeli air strikes on eastern Syria killed 16 Iran-backed fighters Thursday, a war monitor said, hours after Damascus said it intercepted Israeli missiles fired at a central air base.

Egypt's highest Muslim authority Al-Azhar on Wednesday condemned French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo's decision to reprint cartoons of Prophet Mohammed, as the trial opened over the subsequent 2015 terror attack on its Paris office.

Human Rights Watch said Wednesday that frontline staff battling the novel coronavirus in government-held areas of Syria are dying in growing numbers for want of personal protective equipment.

French President Emmanuel Macron met Iraqi leaders Wednesday on his first visit to Baghdad where he stressed the war-scarred country must assert its "sovereignty" despite being caught up in U.S.-Iran tensions.

Tunisia's parliament approved the country's third government in less than a year on Wednesday, overcoming discontent among lawmakers incensed by how the administration was formed and averting the threat of disruptive early elections.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday accused the United Arab Emirates of betraying the Muslim world with its agreement to normalise relations with Tehran's arch-foe Israel.

A top Saudi military commander and his son were sacked on Monday over graft allegations, state media said, in the government's latest anti-corruption purge.

Israeli strikes on Syria killed one civilian, three government troops and seven allied foreign fighters, a war monitor said on Tuesday in a new toll. 

Three people were killed in gas explosions in restaurants in the UAE capital and its business hub Dubai, state media and civil defense said Monday. 

Two people were killed in an explosion in a restaurant in the capital "caused by a gas connection," Abu Dhabi's government media office said.