U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed Thursday the United States and its allies would work diplomatically to expel all Iranian troops from Syria, urging Middle East nations to forge a common stand against Tehran.

"It's time for old rivalries to end, for the sake of the greater good of the region," said Pompeo at a keynote address in Cairo.

Australian authorities are weighing a young Saudi woman's asylum claim at unusual speed, several lawyers and legal experts have told AFP, contrasting her high-profile plight with a normally excruciatingly slow system.

Turkey will launch an offensive against Syrian Kurdish forces if the United States delays the withdrawal of its troops from the war-torn country, the foreign minister said Thursday. 

"If the (pullout) is put off with ridiculous excuses like Turks are massacring Kurds, which do not reflect the reality, we will implement this decision,"  Mevlut Cavusoglu told NTV television.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met Thursday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo, part of a tour to address concerns of American allies in the Middle East.

The main jihadist alliance in Syria's Idlib region reached a deal ending days of deadly fighting with rival rebels and extending its influence over the rebel enclave.

A rebel drone attack on Yemen's largest airbase killed several loyalist soldiers on Thursday, sources on both sides said.

The Shiite Huthi rebels said they carried out the attack on Al-Anad air base in the government-held southern province of Lahij. 

A Tunisian court has convicted dozens of jihadists over the 2015 murder of a teenage shepherd, but the vast majority remain on the run, a prosecution spokesman said Wednesday.

U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths warned Wednesday that "substantial progress" was needed to advance peace efforts in Yemen before new talks can be held on ending the devastating war.

Addressing the Security Council, Griffiths said he was still "hopeful" that negotiations to follow up on a ceasefire deal reached last month in Sweden will be held "in the near future."

Syria's Kurds on Wednesday said they had captured eight alleged foreign jihadists including an American teenager in fighting against the Islamic State group.

Kazakhstan on Wednesday said dozens of its citizens, including children, had been evacuated from Syria after being held "hostage" in the country.