The toll from clashes among rival protesters in Iraq's southern hot spot of Nasiriyah rose to six dead, medics told AFP Saturday, as other cities imposed security measures.

Four people were shot dead and dozens wounded in Iraq's south on Friday, medics said, in clashes between anti-government protesters and supporters of firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr.

Tens of thousands of supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr packed the streets of the Iraqi capital Friday in a show of force as preparations ramp up for June parliamentary elections.

Airstrikes likely carried out by Israel killed at least 19 pro-Iran militia fighters in war-torn eastern Syria, a war monitor said Thursday.

The early morning strikes hit positions of Iran-backed militias outside the town of Albu Kamal in Deir Ezzor province, killing mostly Pakistani fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Israel on Thursday released a Palestinian who waged a 103-day hunger strike to protest Israeli rules allowing his detention without charge, the Palestinian Prisoner's Club said.

Yemen's Huthi rebels confirmed they have given the green light for a UN mission to inspect and repair a long-abandoned fuel tanker which threatens to rupture and cause a massive oil spill.

A flight operated by budget airline flydubai landed in Tel Aviv on Thursday, the first scheduled commercial service between the two cities following the normalisation of ties between the UAE and Israel.

Huthi rebels in Yemen have agreed  to a United Nations mission to inspect and repair the abandoned fuel tanker Safer -- currently anchored off Hodeida and at risk of causing an oil spill -- the U.N. said Tuesday. 

An explosion rocked a Greek-operated tanker docked at Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port of Shuqaiq Wednesday, Greek officials said, in an attack that a Riyadh-led military coalition blamed on Yemeni rebels.

The United Nations is "very concerned" over reports of the arrests in Egypt of human rights activists, the world body's spokesman said.