U.S. President Donald Trump said overnight that a transition can soon begin to set conditions for lasting peace in Syria now that the end of the Islamic State "caliphate is in sight" with the fall of Raqa.

The United States and its allies will support diplomatic negotiations "that end the violence, allow refugees to return safely home, and yield a political transition that honors the will of the Syrian people," Trump said in a statement.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is to launch a fresh bid Sunday to ease a crisis between Riyadh and Doha, both allies of Washington, but without high hopes of a breakthrough.

Apart from the months-long crisis, Iran's rising influence in the Middle East is also expected to figure high on the agenda of America's top diplomat during talks in the two capitals.

Morocco has recalled its ambassador after the Algerian foreign minister accused the kingdom's banks of "laundering hashish money" in Africa, in the latest diplomatic spat between the North African rivals.

Delegates from former foes gathered Saturday in the Egyptian town of El Alamein to mark 75 years since the pivotal WWII battle that saw the Allies turn the tables in North Africa.  

The Israeli army attacked Syrian government artillery on Saturday after fire across the armistice line hit the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and warned it would step up such retaliation in the future.

At least 35 Egyptian troops and police officers were killed in clashes with Islamist fighters in the Bahariya oasis in the country's Western Desert late on Friday, security and medical sources said.

Tears streaming down her freckled face, 35-year-old Asya took in the shattered glass, gutted storefronts and crumbling cafes -- all that remain of her favourite shopping street in Syria's Raqa.

"This was once the most beautiful city, my God," said the woman in a mustard-coloured headscarf, gesturing out of the back seat of a car moving slowly down Raqa's once-bustling Tal Abyad boulevard.

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley told the U.N. Security Council on Friday that it must "act now" to extend an investigation of chemical weapons attacks in Syria, a move that could be vetoed by Russia.

The United States has circulated a draft resolution extending the mandate of the joint U.N.-OPCW (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) panel for another year and diplomats said a vote at the council could be held as early as Monday.

The speed with which Iraqi troops this week overwhelmed Kurdish forces in oil-rich Kirkuk, days after ousting the Islamic State group, marks a radical change in the balance of power, analysts say.

Israeli police said Friday they arrested a Palestinian from the occupied West Bank who stole a lorry in Israel and planned to use it to run down soldiers.