Fourteen Saudi Arabians face "imminent" execution after a "grossly unfair mass trial" in which they were convicted of rioting, theft and rebellion, Amnesty International warned on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia has one of the world's highest execution rates. The ultraconservative kingdom has executed 66 people this year alone, according to the London-based rights group. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday urged all Muslims to visit and protect Jerusalem after violence broke out over metal detectors that Israel installed and later removed from a sensitive holy site in the city.

A Palestinian man suspected of belonging to the Islamist group Hamas has been given a life sentence in Austria for plotting a terror attack against Jews in Israel.

An air strike killed eight civilians, half of them children, and wounded dozens more late Monday in a rebel-held region near the Syrian capital where a fragile truce was declared at the weekend.

A Russian military official said there were no air strikes in the ceasefire zone in the Eastern Ghouta region, calling reports to the contrary "a complete lie".

Syrian rebels and activists are warning that an al-Qaida-linked jihadi group is on the verge of snuffing out what remains of the country's uprising in northwestern Syria, after the extremists seized control of the opposition-held regional capital, Idlib, last weekend.

With the jihadis cementing their authority over the city and its province, also called Idlib, Syrian President Bashar Assad has been supplied with a useful pretext for a long-expected assault against the rebellious province: that the uprising against him is largely driven by Islamists and terrorists.

Seven civilians, including two children, were killed when a car bomb exploded near a military checkpoint in North Sinai, the Egyptian army said Monday.

The explosion happened 200 metres from its military target, "when an Egyptian soldier used a tank to stop the vehicle," according to the army statement.

Saudi Arabia and its allies unveiled a "terrorist" blacklist on Tuesday of 18 organisations and individuals suspected of links with Islamist extremism that they said had ties with regional rival Qatar.

Israel removed metal detectors from a highly sensitive Jerusalem holy site on Tuesday after their installation triggered deadly violence, but Muslim officials said worshippers should continue a boycott for now. 

US President Donald Trump on Monday announced he had ended a program to support rebels fighting against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad because it was "massive, dangerous, and wasteful."

The comments came days after General Tony Thomas, the head of US special operations confirmed that the four-year-old operation was brought to a close but denied the decision was motivated by a desire to placate Russia, which backs the Assad regime.

Jordan's King Abdullah II on Monday urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to remove new security measures at an ultra-sensitive Jerusalem holy site.