Thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets of Algeria's capital on Friday as the "Hirak" pro-democracy movement gathers renewed momentum after a year-long hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Over 60 fighters were killed in clashes in Yemen Friday between Iran-backed Huthi rebels and government forces in the strategic northern province of Marib, government sources said.

A U.S. airstrike in Syria targeted facilities belonging to a powerful Iranian-backed Iraqi armed group, killing at least one fighter and wounding several others, an Iraqi militia official said Friday, signaling the first military action undertaken by U.S. President Joe Biden.

The Pentagon said the strikes were retaliation for a rocket attack in Iraq earlier this month that killed one civilian contractor and wounded a U.S. service member and other coalition troops.

Three anti-government protesters were shot dead Friday in clashes with Iraqi security forces in Nasiriyah, medics said, the deadliest day in a week of violence in the southern city.

Syria on Friday condemned a deadly .US. air strike on Iran-backed militias in its far east as a bad omen from the administration of new U.S. President Joe Biden.

An explosion struck an Israeli-owned cargo ship sailing out of the Middle East on Friday, an unexplained blast renewing concerns about ship security in the region amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

The crew and vessel were safe, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which is run by the British navy. The explosion in the Gulf of Oman forced the vessel to head to the nearest port.

Israel's Shin Bet security agency said Friday it has arrested an Israeli Arab with family ties to Gaza for allegedly passing missile defence information to the Palestinian territory's Hamas rulers.

The US director of national intelligence is expected to release a damning report Friday that blames Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the brutal murder and dismemberment of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018.

The US military has struck Iran-backed militias in eastern Syria, killing at least 22 fighters according to a war monitor, in what the Pentagon said was a message from the new administration after recent rocket attacks targeting US troops in Iraq.

Bahrain's crown prince spoke with the Israeli prime minister on Thursday about the return to nuclear talks with Iran, Bahrain's state-run news agency reported, as the U.S. administration tries to revive the tattered 2015 nuclear accord.

Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, also the country's prime minister, stressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "the importance of the participation of regional countries in any negotiations on the Iranian nuclear file" to support "security and stability in the region," according to the official Bahrain News Agency.