Turkey's ally Saudi Arabia on Monday praised the "success" of a referendum giving President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sweeping new powers.

The six-month-old operation to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State group has forced around half a million people to flee their homes, the United Nations said Monday.

On the western side of Mosul, much of the fighting against Islamic State militants takes place between houses so close that they almost touch. Snipers fire from roofs and through holes blasted into outer walls.

Seen through these holes, this part of Iraq's second-largest city is a landscape of half-collapsed buildings, burned-out cars and rubbish-strewn streets. Helicopters hover and barricades of sandbags block the streets.

Syrian regime forces and their allies advanced Monday in the central province of Hama under the cover of intense airstrikes, approaching the outskirts of a rebel-held town a day after capturing a strategic town from opposition fighters and militants, Syria's state media and opposition activists said.

The push toward the town of Tibet al-Imam came a day after troops and pro-government militiamen captured the town of Soran, a month after Soran was lost in a rebel offensive. The government appears to be aiming to secure areas north of the city of Hama, the country's fourth largest.

Egyptian security officials say three people have been injured in clashes between militants and local tribes in the Sinai peninsula.

The officials told The Associated Press Monday that militants from the Islamic State group launched RPG attacks Sunday in response to the kidnapping of three of its members by local tribes.

Hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli jails launched a hunger strike Monday following a call from leader and prominent prisoner Marwan Barghouti, a movement that could mark a serious challenge to Israeli authorities if sustained.

A mine blast killed a Saudi border guard on Sunday on the kingdom's southern frontier with war-wracked Yemen, the interior ministry said.

The Islamic State group used chemical weapons against Iraqi forces taking part in the operation to recapture Mosul, injuring some security personnel, the military said on Sunday.

Qaraqosh is quiet except for a church bell ringing as Iraqi Christians gather for the first Easter mass since the town was retaken from the Islamic State jihadist group.

Libya's unity government has called for "urgent intervention" by the international community to end military escalation in its south, warning of a possible "civil war."