Turkey said on Thursday the Iraqi Kurdish offer for last month's referendum on independence to be frozen is "not enough," instead urging the Arbil government to cancel the vote.

Senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi says Israeli plans to incorporate West Bank settlement blocs around Jerusalem into the city could kill hopes for an independent Palestinian state.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi held talks with key ally Iran on Thursday as his forces launched an offensive against the Islamic State group's last bastion in the country.

Baghdad on Thursday dismissed an offer from Iraqi Kurdish leaders to freeze the outcome of a vote for independence last month in a bid to pave the way for dialogue.

Vice President Mike Pence announced Wednesday that he will travel to Israel and Egypt in late December, and said the U.S. will redirect funds aimed at helping persecuted Christians and other minorities away from the United Nations.

Pence discussed his plans at a religious dinner in Washington, where he stressed the Trump administration's commitment to helping Christian minority groups across the Middle East.

Iraqi troops launched an assault on the last Islamic State group bastion in the country on Thursday even as the Kurds said Baghdad's forces had attacked their fighters near the border with Turkey.

A U.S. drone strike has killed 13 suspected Islamic State group militants in central Yemen, security sources said Wednesday.

The strike in Bayda province would be the second known U.S. strike against IS in Yemen.

Tensions have soared between Iraq and its northern autonomous Kurdish region since Kurdish voters overwhelmingly backed independence in a non-binding referendum a month ago.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi arrived Wednesday in Ankara to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as ties between Ankara and Baghdad become warmer in opposition to the Kurdish independence referendum.

Iran on Wednesday reopened one of its three border crossings with Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, which it closed in response to last month's vote for independence, its director said.