Al-Qaida's Syria branch on Monday claimed responsibility for two car bomb attacks a day earlier in the central city of Homs that according to the governor killed 12 people.

"God generously made it possible for the jihadists of Al-Nusra Front in Homs... to break through the strongholds of the regime's shabiha (militia)... despite the many obstacles, security barriers and checkpoints," the jihadist group said on Twitter.

Egyptians voted for a new president Monday in an election expected to give a landslide victory to the ex-army chief who ousted the country's first democratically-elected leader and crushed his Islamist movement.

The two-day election is the first since the frontrunner Abdel Fattah al-Sisi deposed Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in July, a move that unleashed the bloodiest violence in Egypt's recent history.

Pope Francis on Monday made an impromptu stop at an Israeli memorial for victims of militant attacks, on the final day of his whirlwind Middle Eastern pilgrimage.

The unscheduled gesture, which came as he visited the national cemetery on Mount Herzl, reportedly took place at the personal request of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, army radio reported.

The Philippines said Monday three Filipinos had been convicted of espionage in Qatar, with one sentenced to death and the others to life in jail.

The trio were sentenced last month by a local court for selling information deemed threatening to Qatar's national security, foreign department spokesman Charles Jose said.

Pope Francis faces a diplomatic high-wire act on Monday as he visits sacred Muslim and Jewish sites in Jerusalem on the final day of his Middle East tour.

The pontiff is rounding off a whirlwind trip which saw him issue a unique invitation to the Israeli and Palestinian presidents to pray with him at the Vatican to end their "increasingly unacceptable" conflict, as well as snatching a personal prayer moment at Israel's controversial separation barrier.

Iran said Sunday that Syrian opposition chief Ahmad Jarba was the "most inappropriate person" to lead the war-torn country and confirmed it would send observers to next month's presidential election.

Jarba, president of the Syrian National Coalition, has sought to overthrow President Bashar Assad for the past three years. Earlier this month Jarba visited Washington and shared a podium with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

The proposed cabinet of Libyan premier Ahmed Miitig on Sunday won a vote of confidence in the General National Congress, or interim parliament, a lawmaker said.

"The vote of confidence was obtained by 83 votes out of 94 lawmakers present," MP Mohammed Laamari told Agence France Presse.

Tunisian authorities have arrested suspected Islamist militants from Libya and Tunisia who were allegedly plotting attacks against tourist and industrial sites, Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou said Sunday.

The suspects had infiltrated Tunisia from Libya "and their targets were tourism and industrial zones," the minister told local radio stations.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday accepted Pope Francis' invitation to pray for peace with Israeli President Shimon Peres on June 6 at the Vatican, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat told Agence France Presse.

Peres' spokesman said earlier that the Israeli president, who steps down at the end of next month, welcomed Francis' invitation but did not explicitly confirm he would attend.

A Tripoli court ordered a fresh delay Sunday in the trial of 40 top figures from late strongman Moammar Gadhafi's regime, including his son Seif al-Islam, as spiraling lawlessness grips Libya.

"The prosecution demanded that the trial be delayed to June 22 to prepare the indictment," defense lawyer Ali Dhabaa told Agence France Presse at the end of a two-hour hearing.