Syrian rebels denied on Sunday they had pulled any heavy arms from a major opposition bastion in the north, as the deadline to implement a demilitarization deal there draws closer.

Iraq's foreign ministry voiced "regret" on Saturday over a US decision to shut its consulate in the southern city of Basra which has been rocked by weeks of deadly protests.

Saudi Arabia and key allies have denounced as "biased" a resolution that renewed a UN-backed investigation of alleged war crimes in Yemen, where Riyadh leads a coalition battling Shiite rebels.

Syria's transport ministry said Saturday its main border crossing with Jordan would reopen to trade next month for the first time in three years, but Amman said consultations were still ongoing.

Russia on Friday warned it will not allow jihadists in Syria to be sent to Afghanistan or elsewhere under a deal reached with Turkey that averted a large-scale military assault on rebel-held Idlib province.

A month of deadly clashes between armed groups in Tripoli has stepped up pressure on Libya's unity government to end its reliance on militias and to implement economic reforms.

UN envoy Ghassan Salame stressed this week as a ceasefire came into effect that "security cannot remain in the grips of the armed groups but must be in the hands of the state".

Syrians in the country's last major rebel stronghold of Idlib protested on Friday to demand the Damascus regime release detainees from its jails, an AFP correspondent said.

Thousands have protested each week since the start of the month in the opposition stronghold on the Turkish border, where a Turkey-Russia deal last week averted a regime military offensive.

Six Palestinians, including two boys aged 12 and 14, were killed in clashes with Israeli forces along the Gaza border Friday, the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled strip said.

The United Nations Human Rights Council voted to extend an international probe of alleged war crimes committed in Yemen despite strong opposition from Saudi Arabia and several of its allies.

The Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad says it has named a new leader.

The group said Friday at a news conference in Gaza that 65-year-old Ziad al-Nakhalah will head the group's secretly elected politburo, replacing longtime leader Ramadan Shalah.