Locked in a tough re-election campaign, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week will host a visit from the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo before flying to Washington for a possible meeting with President Donald Trump.

But Pompeo's Jerusalem visit -- sandwiched by additional stops in Kuwait and Beirut -- reflects a larger agenda than simply lending US support to an important regional friend at a key time. 

An Israeli man wounded in a Palestinian attack that killed an Israeli soldier and injured another one in the occupied West Bank died of his injuries on Monday, his family said.

Two Iraqi soldiers were killed in rare clashes Sunday with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the north of the country where the group has bases, the army said overnight.

More than a year before the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved a secret campaign to silence dissenters, The New York Times reported on Sunday.

The United States strongly denied Sunday a report that it intended to leave almost 1,000 troops in Syria, adding plans for a residual force of around 200 troops had not changed.

A Syrian man goes on trial Monday accused of a knife killing that sparked racist street violence and far-right protests in the eastern German city of Chemnitz last year.

The U.N. envoy for Syria held talks in Damascus on Sunday with Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, who stressed the need for a Syrian-led political solution to the eight-year war.

The main challenger to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in April elections wants an investigation into leaks that led to stories about his phone being hacked, suggesting the premier's allies were behind the leak.

Landmines left behind by jihadists have killed at least 17 people in Syria in a 24-hour period at the weekend, a war monitor said on Sunday.

Thousands of people are believed to remain inside the Islamic State group's last sliver of territory in eastern Syria, a U.S.-backed force said Sunday citing evacuees, hampering the operation to crush the jihadists.