Hundreds of rebels and their families evacuated from southern Syria after a deal was struck with the regime arrived Saturday in the country's northwest, an AFP correspondent said. 

France and Russia on Saturday despatched a plane carrying humanitarian aid to the ravaged former Syrian rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta, which was retaken by government forces in April after a five-year siege. 

A ceasefire announced by Hamas largely held Saturday after a wave of deadly strikes across the Palestinian enclave sparked by the death of an Israeli soldier shot near the border.

Libya's prime minister said Friday he would not allow the EU to set up asylum processing centres in his country, in a new setback for European leaders seeking to curb new migrant arrivals.

Hardline rebels and civilians began leaving a southwestern sliver of Syria near the Israeli-annexed Golan on Friday under a surrender deal, state media, as the evacuations turned deadly with a car accident.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Thursday backed an ongoing regional bid to resolve the conflict in South Sudan as he praised Khartoum for hosting peace talks between the country's warring groups.

A top U.S. general said Thursday he is "satisfied" with the United Arab Emirates' response following a report alleging human rights violations in a string of Emirati-run prisons in Yemen.

The head of Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas announced his backing Thursday for a new Egyptian-led push for reconciliation with the rival Palestinian faction Fatah.

Saudi Arabia's state-owned defense company has forged a deal with Spanish shipbuilder Navantia for a joint venture to build five warships, state media said Thursday.

Turkey on Thursday slammed a new law adopted by Israel's parliament defining the country as the nation state of the Jewish people, saying the legislation "trampled" on universal law and the rights of Israeli Arabs.

The legislation, adopted after a tumultuous Knesset session, makes Hebrew the country's national language and defines the establishment of Jewish communities as being in the national interest.