Egyptian security forces killed 11 suspected "terrorist elements" during a raid on a hideout for militants providing support for jihadists in the Sinai, the interior ministry said on Tuesday.

Hamas is due to hand over power in the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority by Friday as part of a reconciliation deal, raising hopes humanitarian suffering there can be eased.

Human rights group Amnesty International urged Moroccan authorities on Tuesday to release more than 400 people detained over protests in the neglected north of the kingdom over the past year.

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday executed six Yemeni men convicted of murder and robbery and a Saudi man for smuggling drugs, the interior ministry said.

Egypt's years-long military campaign against a jihadist insurgency in the north of the Sinai Peninsula is under increasing scrutiny following a devastating mosque attack last week.

Syria's long-running civil war may be winding down slowly, but the country is awash in weapons and a confounding array of local militias and thousands of foreign troops, some of which may never leave.

With crucial aid from allies Iran and Russia, President Bashar Assad has regained control over large areas of Syria in advances that appear to have put to rest the possibility of a military overthrow, at least for now. But his rule is extremely reliant on continued assistance from Iranian-sponsored militias, which have spread across the war-ravaged country.

Israel mounted a battery of its Iron Dome anti-missile system on a warship Monday, as the vaunted rocket interceptor went operational at sea for the first time, senior officers said.

Israeli police say an explosion in the port city of Jaffa killed four people and led to the collapse of a building.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says Tuesday an investigation is under way to discover the cause of the large explosion late Monday. He says an emergency team discovered four people dead under the rubble. Five others were taken to a hospital.

Talks aimed at ending the war in Syria restarted Tuesday with the government enforcing its will, warning the United Nations it would not tolerate any discussion of President Bashar al-Assad's ouster from power. 

Assad's negotiators skipped the opening of the U.N.-backed talks, delivering another blow to negotiations that have achieved little through seven previous rounds. 

Hamas is due to end its decade-long dominance of Gaza by Friday in its biggest step yet towards Palestinian unity, but hopes raised by a reconciliation deal have already given way to doubts.