Algeria's supreme court on Wednesday said the brother of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika and two ex-intelligence chiefs convicted of conspiracy against the state would be retried after appeals.

Egyptian authorities on Wednesday arrested a second staff member of a leading local human rights group, the organization said, days after its office manager was detained.

Mike Pompeo is expected to become the first U.S. secretary of state ever to visit land used by settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Thursday.

Bahrain's foreign minister called for fresh Israeli-Palestinian peace talks during a landmark meeting Wednesday in Israel with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Eyeing Washington's withdrawal of 500 more troops from Iraq, pro-Iran factions have boldly resumed attacks on the U.S. embassy there despite suspicions outgoing President Donald Trump could strike back.

Iraq and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday reopened their Arar desert crossing, a long-awaited sign of closer trade ties after 30 years of sealed land borders between the two countries.

The Emirati Red Crescent said Wednesday one of its mobile health clinics was attacked by gunmen in war-torn Yemen, in a strike it condemned as a "cowardly terrorist act".

It did not mention any casualties in the assault in Yemen's third largest city of Taez, which is under government control but surrounded by forces of the Iran-backed Huthi rebels.

Bahrain's foreign minister arrived in Israel Wednesday on the first official visit from the Gulf kingdom, which normalised relations with the Jewish state in September.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was due to arrive in Jerusalem Wednesday for a farewell visit as the chief diplomat of the strongly pro-Israeli Trump administration. 

Israeli warplanes struck Syria Wednesday, hitting Iranian targets and killing 10 Syrian and foreign fighters in what the Israeli army called a retaliatory attack after explosive devices were found near one of its bases on the occupied Golan Heights.

The air strikes came hours before U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was to land in Israel for talks including on Iran, in what was likely to be his last visit to the staunch American ally before President Donald Trump leaves office.