The interior minister of Libya's U.N.-backed government survived an ambush by gunmen on his motorcade on Sunday, a brazen attack highlighting the towering challenges that remain for the newly appointed government that is trying to unite the country before elections late this year.

Armed men opened fire at Fathi Bashagha's motorcade on a highway in Tripoli, wounding at least one of his guards, said Amin al-Hashmi, a spokesman for the Tripoli-based Health Ministry.

Saudi Arabia's state arms producer signed an agreement Sunday with U.S. contractor Lockheed Martin to form a joint venture, a statement said, as Washington reviews weapons sales to the kingdom.

Israeli authorities on Sunday warned people to keep away from the Mediterranean shore to avoid massive tar pollution, as thousands of laborers and volunteers worked to clean contaminated beaches.

Powerful winds and unusually high waves pummeled Israel's entire Mediterranean coastline over Tuesday and Wednesday, with tons of tar staining 160 kilometers of beaches from Rosh Hanikra, just south of Lebanon, to Ashkelon just north of Gaza.

The powerful interior minister of Libya's unity government survived an assassination attempt Sunday on a highway near the capital Tripoli, an official from his inner circle told AFP.

Around 20,000 coronavirus vaccine doses from the UAE arrived in Gaza Sunday, a delivery reportedly orchestrated by a rival of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas three months before scheduled Palestinian elections.

Israel took a step towards normalcy Sunday, re-opening a raft of businesses and services following its third national lockdown, with some sites only available to those who have been vaccinated. 

Yemen's Saudi-backed government accused Huthi rebels Saturday of using civilians as human shields in their renewed offensive against its last major toehold in the north.

A wave of Russian air strikes killed at least 21 Islamic State group jihadists in the Syrian desert over the past 24 hours, a war monitor said on Saturday.

Private security contractor and ally of former US President Trump Erik Prince violated a United Nations arms embargo on Libya, UN investigators have found in a report detailed by US media on Friday.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the February 3 killing of four soldiers in a rugged region of central Tunisia, SITE Intelligence Group reported.