Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas hailed former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak as a supporter of the Palestinian cause, after he passed away on Tuesday aged 91.

Egypt's former long-time president Hosni Mubarak died Tuesday at age 91 at Cairo's Galaa military hospital, his brother-in-law General Mounir Thabet told AFP.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Tuesday to build 3,500 new settler homes in a super-sensitive area of the occupied West Bank, just a week before a tight general election. 

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said there was not yet a full accord between Russia, and European Union heavyweights France and Germany to hold a summit over the escalating violence in Syria's Idlib. 

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said two Turkish troops have been killed in Libya, a country wracked by conflict between its UN-recognised government and the forces of strongman Khalifa Haftar. 

Libya's rival camps announced Monday they had suspended their participation in U.N.-sponsored peace talks this week in Geneva, although a United Nations spokesman said negotiations would still go ahead.

Israel and Islamic Jihad exchanged fire in the Gaza Strip for a second day Monday, a week before Israel's March 2 election.

Libya's warring sides have hashed out a draft ceasefire agreement, the U.N. said Monday, even as Libyan leaders decried international inaction to rein in hostilities still raging in the war-ravaged country.

Iraqi lawmakers on Monday scheduled a confidence vote for the government of prime minister-designate Mohammad Allawi later this week, as the US called for the premier to protect its troops. 

The United States has urged Yemen's Huthi rebels to drop charges targeting the Baha'i community, which said that 24 believers of the faith will face a new trial session Tuesday.