Canada will end air strikes targeting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria and bring home its six fighter jets on February 22, the government announced Monday, going against public opinion.

In their place, Ottawa will triple the number of special forces training Kurdish militia in northern Iraq to about 210, while a handful of surveillance and refueling aircraft will continue to play roles in the U.S.-led coalition, Defense Minister Hargit Sajjan told a joint news conference with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and senior officials.

Hamas on Monday denied Israeli accusations that wounded Islamic State group fighters from Egypt had been smuggled through tunnels to receive medical care in the Islamist-run Gaza Strip.

Israeli General Yoav Mordechai had accused the jihadist group of smuggling wounded fighters from Sinai Province -- the IS affiliate in northern Egypt -- through tunnels into the Palestinian enclave for treatment.

Bahrain's prosecution service said Monday it has charged 11 suspects with forming a "terrorist" group, including a number trained by Iran's Revolutionary Guards and the Hezbollah branch in Iraq.

The group, including four suspects on the run, has been charged with "establishing and joining a terrorist group; possessing explosives, weapons and firearms; and receiving training for terrorist purposes", Advocate General Ahmed al-Hamadi said.

U.S. President Barack Obama urged Arab countries on Monday to establish inclusive governments to ensure security in a region rocked by turmoil.

"When governments truly invest in their citizens, their education, skills, and health, and universal human rights are upheld, countries are more peaceful, more prosperous and more successful," he told the opening day of the World Government Summit in Dubai.

Libya's presidential council said Monday it needs one more week to form a national unity government, after the country's internationally recognized parliament rejected an initial line-up.

The council, chaired by prime minister-designate Fayez al-Sarraj, had been due to submit the name of a new unity government on Wednesday for approval by the recognized parliament.

U.N. investigators on Monday accused Damascus of "extermination" in its jails and detention centers, saying prisoners were executed, tortured to death or held in such horrific conditions that they perished.

Over the past four and a half years, thousands of detainees have been killed while being held by different sides in Syria's brutal conflict, the U.N. commission of inquiry on Syria said in its latest report.

Around 30,000 Syrians are at the Turkish border after fleeing a Russia-backed regime offensive on the northern region of Aleppo, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said.

With his country facing mounting pressure to open its border, Davutoglu said the refugees would be admitted if need be, although Turkey should not be expected "to shoulder the refugee issue alone."

Italy on Monday warned Egypt it would not allow the fate of Giulio Regeni to be brushed under the carpet as anger mounted over the Cambridge University student's torture and killing in Cairo.

With the media publishing gruesome details of Regeni's treatment and pointing the finger at Egyptian security services, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was under pressure to authorize a state funeral for the slain 28-year-old.

The Iraqi army is deploying thousands of soldiers to a northern base in preparation for operations to retake the Islamic State group's hub of Mosul, officials said on Monday.

IS seized Mosul in June 2014 and except for air strikes has held Iraq's second city largely unopposed for more than 18 months as the country's security forces battled the jihadists in other areas.

A Palestinian died on Monday when a tunnel he was trying to restore collapsed near Gaza's border with Egypt, Palestinian medical and security sources said.

The death brings to 10 the number of Gazans killed in three separate tunnel collapses in two weeks.