Just after sunrise outside Syria's Raqa, dozens of Islamic State group jihadists donned Kurdish military uniforms, piled into cars with weapons, and broke back into a district they lost control of months ago.

Iraq's military prepared Saturday to take control of the international borders of the northern Kurdish region.

The move is part of the central government's stepped-up efforts to isolate the Kurds following their vote on independence earlier this week.

At least 28 civilians were killed in air strikes on northwestern Syria where a planned safe zone has been overshadowed by a bombing campaign against jihadists, a monitor said Saturday.

French President Emmanuel Macron has invited Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to visit on October 5 to discuss the Kurdish independence referendum, offering France's help in calming tensions over the vote.

The Iraqi government cut autonomous Kurdistan's direct air links with the outside world indefinitely on Friday, partially isolating the northern region after it voted a massive "yes" in an independence referendum.

The US ambassador in Tel Aviv has angered Palestinians with a comment downplaying Israel's 50-year occupation of the West Bank, the second such spat in a month.

The Islamic State group killed at least 58 Syrian government troops and militia as the jihadists put up fierce resistance to a Russian-backed offensive against some of its last bastions, a monitor said Friday.

There was strong diplomatic and donor support for UNRWA and its mandate at the Ministerial-level meeting which took place in New York during the General Assembly on 22 September, an UNRWA press release said on Friday.

The meeting, entitled “Giving Hope to Palestine Refugees”, was hosted by the OIC Secretary-General, H.E. Dr. Yousef Al-Othaimeen, and co-hosted by the Foreign Minister of Sweden H.E Margot Wallström and the Foreign Minister of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan H.E Ayman Al-Safadi. United Nations Secretary-General, H.E. António Guterres, addressed an important video message to participants.

Iraqi forces on Friday launched an assault on the northern town of Hawija, one of the last bastions still held by the Islamic State group in the country, its commander said.

The Netherlands and several Western allies have dropped their call for an international Commission of Inquiry to monitor human rights violations in war-torn Yemen.

A revision to a Dutch- and Canadian-led resolution Thursday at the Human Rights Council signaled the diplomatic heft of Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations who have helped fight rebels in Yemen and oppose any such commission.