The wife of Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, Nehama Rivlin, died on Tuesday at 73 a few months after a lung transplant, the president's office said.

Russia has blocked a U.N. Security Council statement criticizing Syria's military campaign in the Idlib region that Western powers fear will lead to a humanitarian catastrophe.

Egypt on Monday urged all sides in Sudan to return to the negotiating table as security forces moved to break up a weeks-long protest camp in Khartoum. 

Some 800 Syrian women and children started leaving the Kurdish-run Al-Hol camp in northeast Syria on Monday, en route to their hometowns in the nearby province of Raqa, an AFP correspondent said.

Bombardments by the Syrian regime killed six civilians in northwest Syria Monday, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump urged Damascus and its allies to "stop bombing the hell" out of the jihadist-held region.

Trump's call came after U.S. ally Israel carried out a series of strikes against Syria at the weekend, leaving at least 15 dead among pro-government forces, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Kurdish administration in northeast Syria on Monday handed over five orphans from families of the Islamic State group to Norwegian authorities, a spokesman said.

The execution of nine French jihadists on death row in Iraq would be a disgrace for France and leave an "indelible stain" on the mandate of President Emmanuel Macron, a group of prominent French lawyers said Monday.

Saudi Arabia criticized Qatar on Monday for rejecting the outcome of recent Mecca talks on regional tensions with Iran, while the UAE accused Doha of "backtracking" on the summits' conclusions.

The Kremlin insisted Monday that the Russian army was targeting "terrorists" in Syria's last jihadist stronghold of Idlib, accusing them of firing at civilians and Moscow's troops.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is worried the Trump administration's soon-to-be-released Middle East peace plan will be considered "unworkable," and might not gain traction, U.S. media outlets have reported.