Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday it would be "unnecessary and wrong" to call snap polls, as he sought to hold his governing coalition together following the resignation of his defense minister.

The United States will make final conclusions by early next week over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, President Donald Trump has said, following reports that the CIA had held Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman responsible.

Coalition air strikes Saturday killed at least 36 civilians related to the Islamic State group in a jihadist holdout in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border, a Britain-based monitor said.

Divided by war, one thing unites Yemenis in rebel-held Sanaa and state-controlled Aden -- four years into a conflict that has triggered a tragic humanitarian crisis, people just want peace.

The US Central Intelligence Agency has concluded Saudi Arabia's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was behind the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, US media reported Friday, citing people close to the matter.

Saudi Arabia has sought to draw a line under one of its biggest crises triggered by critic Jamal Khashoggi's murder, but an ever greater threat of international scrutiny and pressure hang over the kingdom.

Riyadh on Thursday exonerated powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of involvement in the murder as it called for the death penalty against five men, and as the United States, a key ally, slapped sanctions on 17 suspects.

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered on October 2 in his country's consulate in Istanbul. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was battling to keep his government afloat on Friday after Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman quit over a ceasefire deal for Gaza.

Jihadists on Friday killed nine Syrian regime fighters near a planned buffer zone around the country's last major rebel bastion, a monitor said.

Turkey has more evidence contradicting the Saudi version of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi including a second audio recording, a Turkish newspaper reported on Friday.