The whoosh of wings disturbs the quiet of an abandoned, pitch-black maze of corridors next to the Jordan River in the occupied Palestinian territories.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo strongly condemned the murder on Wednesday of a Turkish diplomat in Arbil in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, in an attack that claimed at least one other victim.

Libya on Wednesday extradited to Britain the brother of a suicide bomber who attacked an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester in May 2017 and killed 22 people, officials said.

The Islamic State group has called for more attacks in Tunisia in a rare propaganda video purportedly filmed by the jihadists in the North African nation.

The Turkish vice consul to Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region was among at least two people shot dead Wednesday in the regional capital Arbil, police sources said.

A police source told AFP that the Turkish vice consul was killed "in an armed attack targeting the consul and the consulate's employees in a restaurant in Arbil," adding that the attacker fled the scene.

Former Israeli premier Ehud Barak, who is challenging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in upcoming elections, vowed to fight back Wednesday after criticism over his ties to disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein.

A blast killed four soldiers in southern Syria Wednesday in a rare such deadly attack in the defeated cradle of the eight-year uprising, a war monitor said.

Kuwaiti authorities have arrested more than a dozen people, including a leading rights activist, in a crackdown on protesters demanding greater rights for stateless Arabs, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

They face a number of charges including participation in unlicensed demonstrations, spreading false news and state security offences, the London-based rights group said.

As Benjamin Netanyahu becomes Israel's longest-serving prime minister, he is solidifying his place as the country's greatest political survivor and the most dominant force in Israeli politics in his generation.

He has persevered through scandals, crises and conflicts, winning election after election even as the country grows more bitterly polarized. His supporters credit him with keeping Israel safe and prosperous, maintaining its Jewish character and boosting its standing internationally.

Key powers including backers of a rebel leader called Tuesday for a halt to fighting in Libya, warning that bloodshed was aggravating a crisis on multiple fronts.