Egypt on Friday arrested a top leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, the latest swept up by Cairo's long-running crackdown against the outlawed Islamist group, the interior ministry said.

Israeli tanks and warplanes bombed Hamas positions in Gaza Friday and the Islamists retaliated with rockets as a three-week-old flare-up showed no let-up despite international mediation efforts.

Russian military vehicles and attack helicopters surrounded two US armored cars in a tense confrontation in northeastern Syria Wednesday, leaving US troops injured, according to the White House.

Israeli police said they were holding a Palestinian suspected of stabbing to death an Israeli man Wednesday near Tel Aviv in what they were treating as a "terrorist attack."

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the suspect was a 46-year-old-man from the West Bank city of Nablus.

Yemen's southern separatists said Wednesday they had withdrawn from talks over a Saudi-sponsored power-sharing deal with the internationally recognised government, in the latest setback for the troubled process.

Israeli warplanes struck a Hamas target in Gaza overnight, the military said Wednesday, even as a Qatari envoy joined efforts to broker an end to the almost three-week flare-up.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday left Israel for Sudan, the next stop on his regional tour, on the first official direct flight from Tel Aviv to Khartoum.

Israeli tanks and aircraft carried out new strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza overnight in response to the launch of so-called fire balloons across the border, the army said on Tuesday.

Tunisia's prime minister-designate on Tuesday unveiled the country's second government in six months, which must now seek approval from lawmakers incensed by how the administration was formed. 

Israel's prime minister and Washington's top diplomat voiced hope Monday the Jewish state would soon build ties with more Arab countries, following its landmark move to normalize relations with the United Arab Emirates.