Tens of thousands of people have protested in Tel Aviv against what they say is corruption within the government and the slow pace of investigations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu is suspected of receiving luxury gifts from wealthy supporters and has also faced police questioning over a secret deal he allegedly sought for favorable coverage with the publisher of top-selling Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot.

A Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Huthi rebels praised former president Ali Abdullah Saleh Saturday for "taking the lead" after he announced he was open to talks with the coalition.

"The decision by (Saleh's) General People's Congress to take the lead and their choice to side with their people will free Yemen of... militias loyal to Iran," the coalition said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. 

Yemen's Huthi rebels Saturday accused ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh of staging a "coup" against their fragile alliance, after the strongman said he was open to talks with the Saudi-led coalition fighting them.

Yemeni strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh said Saturday he was open to talks with the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed rebels, as his alliance with the Huthi insurgents appeared to be crumbling.

Syrian air defences intercepted at least two Israeli missiles fired at a government "military position" in Damascus province early Saturday but the attack still caused damage, state media reported.

Clashes erupted in Yemen's capital late Friday, witnesses said, as talks between feuding rebel allies failed to broker a truce. 

UN experts who traveled to Saudi Arabia to inspect fragments of a missile fired from Yemen last month have found a possible link to an Iranian manufacturer, according to a confidential document seen by AFP on Friday.

Saudi Arabia and Iran have exported their bitter regional tussle to Rome, accusing each other of villainous meddling in the Middle East during diplomacy talks in the Italian capital.

Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Hassan Shoukry said Friday he saw "no reason" why the country's ex-premier Ahmed Shafiq should not run for president.

The Palestinian president's office warned Friday of the potential destructive effects of any move denying their claim to east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.