China's foreign minister told his Israeli and Palestinian counterparts that his country is ready to help facilitate peace talks between the two sides, in its latest effort at mediation in the region.

In separate phone calls to the two officials on Monday, Qin Gang expressed China's concern over intensifying tensions between Israel and Palestinians and its support for a resumption of peace talks, the Foreign Ministry said in statements issued late Monday.

Iran's president on Tuesday reiterated threats against Israel while marking the country's annual Army Day, though he stayed away from criticizing Saudi Arabia as Tehran seeks a détente with the kingdom.

The comments by Ebrahim Raisi came as fighter jets and helicopters flew overhead in Tehran, and as Iranian submarines sailed across its waters during a ceremony carried live by state television.

Tunisian authorities closed the offices of Islamist-inspired opposition party Ennahdha on Tuesday, a day after arresting its leader Rached Ghannouchi, a senior party official said.

"A police unit showed up at the party's main headquarters (in Tunis) and ordered everyone there to leave before closing it," Riadh Chaibi said.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met with Saudi Arabia's top diplomat in Damascus on Tuesday, state media reported, ending more than a decade of diplomatic deep-freeze between the two countries.

"President Bashar al-Assad meets Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan," Syria's official news agency SANA reported.

For many Palestinians, the journey to one of Islam's most sacred sites on the holiest night of Ramadan begins in a dust-choked, garbage-strewn maelstrom.

Tens of thousands of Palestinian worshippers from across the occupied West Bank on Monday crammed through a military checkpoint leading to Jerusalem to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque for Laylat al-Qadr, or the "Night of Destiny," when Muslims believe that the Quran was revealed to the Prophet Mohammad centuries ago.

A suspected Palestinian gunman wounded two men near a Jewish site in annexed east Jerusalem on Tuesday, Israeli authorities said, with security forces conducting a manhunt for the perpetrator.

The shooting came days before the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, which has seen deadly attacks and clashes in Israel, annexed east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

A helicopter raid by U.S. forces in northern Syria early on Monday resulted in the "probable death" of a senior leader of the militant Islamic State group, the U.S. military said.

The U.S. Central Command said in a statement that the IS leader, who was not named, was "responsible for planning terror attacks in the Middle East and Europe." Two other "armed individuals" were killed along with the target of the raid, CENTCOM said. The statement said no civilians or U.S. troops were hurt in the operation.

Suspected Islamic State group fighters killed at least 36 truffle hunters and five shepherds in Syria, a monitor said, in the latest attacks by jihadists in the war-ravaged country.

Rami Abdel Rahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP the jihadist group "killed 36 people on Sunday while they were collecting truffles in the desert east of (the central city) Hama".

Christian worshippers thronged the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem to celebrate the ceremony of the "Holy Fire," an ancient ritual that sparked tensions this year with the Israeli police.

In the annual ceremony that has been observed for over a millennium, a flame taken from Jesus' tomb is used to light the candles of fervent believers in Greek Orthodox communities near and far. The devout believe the origin of the flame is a miracle and is shrouded in mystery.

After meeting in Saudi Arabia to discuss Syria's political fate, a group of regional leaders promised to continue talks to reach a political solution to the Syrian conflict, but stopped short of endorsing its return to the Arab League.

The meeting, which included top diplomats from the Arab Gulf countries as well as Egypt, Jordan and Iraq, was convened days after Syria's foreign minister visited Saudi Arabia for the first time since the kingdom cut off diplomatic relations with Syria in 2012.