Libya's interim prime minister-designate on Monday defended the process that saw him elected, following reports of vote-buying during the U.N.-led peace talks.

More than 400 European parliamentarians have urged leaders to use Joe Biden's new presidency as an opportunity to stop what they term Israel's "de-facto annexation" of the occupied West Bank.

Unrest broke out late Sunday in a southern Algerian town after a blogger and activist was handed a seven-year jail sentence for condoning acts of terrorism, a news website reported.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday accused Iran of a recent attack on an Israeli-owned ship, noting his country was regularly "striking" its arch-foe in comments that followed an overnight raid on Syria.

The Turkish fiancee of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi said on Monday that Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman should be "punished without delay" over his murder.

"It is essential that the Crown Prince, who ordered the brutal murder of a blameless and innocent person, should be punished without delay," Hatice Cengiz said in a statement posted on her official Twitter account.

Syrian air defences intercepted Israeli missiles over Damascus on Sunday, Syrian state news agency SANA said.

Israel on Sunday confirmed it will vaccinate Palestinians in the West Bank with permits to work in Jewish settlements in the occupied territory and inside Israel. 

Turkey on Sunday summoned Iran's envoy to Ankara to demand support in the fight against "terrorism", escalating a rumbling row over Turkey's presence in Iraq, state media reported.

Israeli authorities said Sunday they had cleared a Greek tanker of suspicion in relation to an oil spill that caused massive tar pollution on the Mediterranean coastline, devastating marine life.

It is seen as Israel's worst maritime pollution incident in decades.

Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels on Sunday claimed the attempted strikes that targeted neighboring Saudi Arabia overnight and threatened more attacks, as fighting in the grinding civil war escalates.