Iraq repatriated to Turkey on Wednesday 188 children of Turks accused of belonging to the Islamic State group, a capital offence in Iraq, the judiciary said.

A Baghdad court sentenced a Frenchman to death on Wednesday for joining the Islamic State group, bringing to seven the number of French jihadists on death row in Iraq.

Iran strongly rejected an accusation by U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton Wednesday that it was "almost certainly" behind May 12 attacks on four ships off the United Arab Emirates.

Syria's regime has increased its deadly bombardment of Idlib in recent weeks, but analysts say that is unlikely to signal an all-out offensive on the jihadist bastion.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has urgently worked to break a deadlock in coalition negotiations as the once far-fetched possibility of fresh general elections only months after April polls loomed ever larger.

Israel announced Wednesday it had tightened restrictions on Palestinian fishing off the blockaded Gaza Strip after more balloons fitted with firebombs were floated from the enclave into its territory.

The latest in an unprecedented wave of regime bombardment on a jihadist enclave in northwestern Syria killed at least 10 civilians on Wednesday, a war monitor said.

U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner haw met Morocco's King Mohammed VI in Rabat as part of a fresh push on a long-promised but yet-to-be-delivered peace plan for the region.

U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton said Wednesday Iran was "almost certainly" behind attacks on ships off the United Arab Emirates earlier this month. 

Around 450 French nationals linked to the Islamic State are being held by Kurds or detained in refugee camps in northeastern Syria, the French foreign minister said Tuesday.