The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen on Monday said it had made "limited use" of British-made cluster bombs, a type of weapon which 100 countries have pledged not to use.

President Vladimir Putin on Monday called the killing of Russia's ambassador in Turkey a "provocation" aimed at sabotaging warming ties between Moscow and Ankara and efforts to resolve the conflict in Syria. 

Attacks by Islamic State group jihadists on Monday near Palmyra in central Syria killed at least 20 members of the regime's forces, a monitor said.

A leading church figure in the Middle East said Monday Christians across the region were facing a "tragedy," and accused the international community of failing to act.

The U.N.'s Syria envoy said Monday he has planned peace talks for February in Geneva, as the U.N. Security Council voted to deploy observers to war-ravaged Aleppo.

Staffan de Mistura "wishes to announce that it is the intention of the United Nations to convene those negotiations in Geneva on 8 February 2017," said a statement from his spokesman.

With Russia's backing, the Security Council on Monday voted to quickly deploy U.N. observers to Aleppo to monitor evacuations and report on the fate of civilians who remain in the besieged Syrian city.

The council unanimously adopted a French-drafted resolution that marks the first show of unity in months among world powers grappling with the crisis in Syria.

A suspected leader of a newly-emerged militant group, the Hassam Movement, and a policeman were killed during a police raid in the Egyptian capital, the interior ministry said Monday.

Security forces raided a group hideout, where members "held organisational meetings and made explosive devices to be used in a series of hostile operations", in the October 6 district of western Cairo.

Israeli tanks fired shells at a Hamas post in the Gaza Strip on Monday after troops were shot at on the border with the Palestinian territory, the army said.

Turkey on Monday denied it had forged any secret "bargain" with Russia over the future of Syria ahead of a key ministerial meeting including Iran, despite improving cooperation that led to a deal for evacuations from war-wrecked Aleppo.

Clogged daily by dozens of aid trucks, a Turkish border crossing has become a key hub in efforts to get help to those who have fled the devastation in the war-ravaged Syrian city of Aleppo.

The Cilvegozu border crossing in Turkey's southern Hatay province just east of its main city Antakya is in a peaceful area, with little sign of the horror that lies just a few dozen kilometres beyond to the south.