A roadside bombing in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula killed two policemen on Monday, the interior ministry said.

The UN envoy for Syria said Monday a "crucial moment" had been reached in attempts to broker a political settlement to end a five year war and defeat the IS.

Opposition fighters launched a major assault on government-held districts of Syria's long-divided Aleppo on Monday, after the regime severed their only remaining supply route into the battleground city.

Israel's Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said on Sunday he had ordered an "examination" into an unspecified affair involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after weeks of media speculation and rumors.

A Bahraini court will hand down its verdict next week in the government's bid to dissolve the main opposition group al-Wefaq, accused of harboring "terrorism," a judicial source said Monday.

Pentagon chief Ashton Carter said Monday that Washington will deploy 560 additional troops to aid Iraq's fight to retake Mosul from jihadists, deepening US military involvement in the country.

Human Rights Watch said Monday that Saudi-led bombing raids against civilian factories in Yemen, which have killed scores, appear aimed at inflicting lasting economic damage to the war-ravaged country.

Israel's government on Sunday approved nearly $13 million in financing for the West Bank settlements of Kiryat Arba and within Hebron, officials said, following a wave of Palestinian attacks in the area.

Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry was heading to Israel on Sunday for a rare visit in which he is to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his office said.

Shoukry would hold "lengthy talks" with Netanyahu focusing on reviving the peace process with the Palestinians, the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement.

At least 29 Syrian rebels were killed in clashes with regime troops overnight during a failed bid to reopen the opposition's key supply route into Aleppo city, a monitor said Sunday.

The fighters from the Faylaq al-Sham Islamist faction and Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front were killed trying to reopen the Castello Road, which regime forces effectively severed on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.