The mainly young protesters who have flooded Iraqi streets this week say their movement is spontaneous with no space for the clerics and politicians they accuse of hijacking previous protests for jobs and better services.

Israel's parliament will be sworn in Thursday without a new government formed as a deadlocked general election leaves Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scrambling to find a path to extend his long tenure in power.

At least 173 civilians, including 41 children, have been killed in Syria by landmines and explosive remnants of war since the start of the year, a monitor said Thursday.

The death toll from mass rallies in Iraq against corruption and unemployment rose to 19 on Thursday, as the leaderless protest movement spread to virtually all of the south.

An Israeli court on Wednesday released to house arrest an ultra-Orthodox Israeli woman sought by Australia over accusations of sexually abusing girls under her care there.

Sitting in a wheelchair beside a metal fence in a camp in northern Syria, nine-year-old Ruqaya Mohammad raises a scarf over her face to hide from journalists.

Outlawed and repressed, the Muslim Brotherhood was not behind the recent protests in Egypt, but has sought to capitalize on a new wave of dissent, analysts say.

International human rights groups demanded justice Wednesday for slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying that a year after his brutal murder, Saudi authorities had yet to provide any "meaningful accountability.".

Two demonstrators were shot dead Wednesday in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah, a health official said, bringing the death toll in violent protests across the country this week to five. 

Abdulhussein al-Jaberi, the health chief for Dhi Qar province, told AFP that another five protesters and 11 security force members were wounded in the latest clashes.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced a key day Wednesday in his attempt to remain premier, with both a hearing into corruption allegations against him and his unity government talks nearing a dead end.