Near the front line in eastern Syria, Amer Khalifa plays with a sword he found. To "avenge" his family, he has joined a Kurdish-led alliance fighting the Islamic State group.

A UN judicial expert tasked with investigating the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi said Tuesday she would present her report by the end of May.

The United Nations envoy for Yemen said Monday the expected timeline for a truce in the flashpoint city of Hodeida and a prisoner swap between warring parties has been pushed back.

A bomb attack in a market killed seven Yemeni civilians including a photographer for a UAE television channel in the government-controlled town of Mokha, medics and military sources said Tuesday.

Syria and Iran signed 11 agreements and memoranda of understanding late Monday, including a "long-term strategic economic cooperation" deal aimed at strengthening cooperation between Damascus and one of its key allies in the civil war that has torn the country apart.

The longtime head of the world's Yazidis, a minority whose Iraqi community was ferociously targeted by the Islamic State group, has died in Germany after a long illness, officials said Monday.

Bahrain insisted Monday on the extradition of a footballer with refugee status who has been detained in Thailand for nearly two months over his alleged role in protests in the Gulf state.

The Islamic State group's once-sprawling "caliphate" has been reduced to a four-square-kilometer pocket of territory in eastern Syria, a senior Kurdish commander said Monday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Monday met with a UN judicial expert who is looking into the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi as Ankara calls for an international inquiry.

The UN special rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard, will be in Turkey until Saturday for a series of meetings with authorities including the Istanbul chief prosecutor. 

Human Rights Watch on Monday accused a Syrian group led by former Al-Qaeda fighters of using "torture" against activists opposing their rule.