US-backed forces prepared Tuesday to pluck more civilians out of the Islamic State group's last Syrian stronghold, after evacuating almost 3,000 people including hundreds of fighters over the past 48 hours.

Thousands of Algerian students marched on Tuesday in protest at ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's determination to stand for re-election, brushing aside his pledge not to serve a full fifth term.

The United States has deployed its advanced THAAD missile defense system temporarily to Israel for a joint military exercise, the first of its kind, officials said Monday.

Qatar on Monday told rival Saudi Arabia not to meddle in its potential arms purchases from Russia, as the Gulf state weighs the controversial purchase of an air defense system.

European Union countries on Monday added Syria's interior minister and six other new ministers to a sanctions blacklist for their role in President Bashar al-Assad's "violent repression" of civilians.

The European Council grouping the 28 member countries said the ministers who were appointed to Assad's government in November have been barred from traveling to Europe and will see their assets frozen.

The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas warned Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday against any military "adventure" in Gaza ahead of Israeli elections next month.

Iran's foreign ministry insisted Monday that Tehran's ties with Moscow are "strong" and shrugged off reported Israeli-Russian coordination on a withdrawal of foreign forces from Syria. 

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's offer of a new constitution and a truncated next term does not appear to have satisfied protesters, who faced off with riot police overnight.

Crowds of mainly young protesters demonstrated into the early hours of Monday after Bouteflika's campaign manager formalized the president's candidacy for a fifth term in an April 18 election.

Kurdish-led forces supported by coalition air strikes readied for more evacuations of civilians held as human shields Monday after smashing their way into the jihadists' last bastion in eastern Syria.

A Bangladeshi man was hanged in a jail outside Dhaka over the murder of a Saudi diplomat in 2012, an official said Monday.