Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected a proposed meeting with U.S. Senate Democrats during his upcoming Washington visit, saying it would fuel "mis-perception of partisanship" over his planned address to Congress.

Netanyahu's decline, confirmed in a letter to Senators Dick Durbin and Dianne Feinstein seen by AFP, cast further attention Wednesday on an already contentious visit by the Israeli leader that has severely strained ties with President Barack Obama's administration.

Egypt's Constitutional Court said it will rule Sunday on whether the electoral law is constitutional, with polls for a new parliament next month likely to be delayed if the decision is negative.

The election, currently set to be held between March 21 and May 7, would be the first since army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi overthrew Islamist Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

An Egyptian court set May 16 for a verdict in the prison break trial of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, who could be sentenced to death if convicted, an official said Wednesday.

Morsi, overthrown in 2013, faces several trials along with top leaders of his Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement.

A counter-terrorism conference attended by senior Muslim scholars from around the world on Wednesday called for education reform to tackle religious extremism.

Participants at the meeting in the Saudi holy city of Mecca urged Muslim leaders to review the religious messages in education, "to achieve a more moderate approach."

Libya's neighbor Tunisia and its former colonial power Italy issued a joint call on Wednesday for reconciliation among militias leading to a political settlement in the conflict-riven country.

"Today we agreed on the fact that the solution of the conflict (in Libya) should not be military, it is necessary that the solution is a political one," Tunisian Foreign Minister Taieb Baccouche told reporters after meeting his Italian counterpart Paolo Gentiloni in Tunis.

Iran denied Wednesday that it has played any part in a Shiite militia's power grab in Yemen, an accusation leveled by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

Speaking to U.S. lawmakers Tuesday, Kerry said "critical" support of the Huthi militia by Shiite-dominated Iran "contributed" to the collapse of Yemen's government.

A leading Syrian opposition figure, Louay Hussein, said he was freed on bail on Wednesday, more than three months after he was detained.

"I just left prison, I am on my way home," Hussein told AFP in Beirut on the phone from Syria, adding that he was in good spirits.

The Gulf Cooperation Council reiterated its support Wednesday for Yemen's beleaguered president against the Shiite militia that holds Sanaa, as militiamen opened fire to disperse thousands of his backers demonstrating in the capital.

Days after Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi escaped house arrest and fled to safety in the southern port of Aden, GCC secretary general Abdullatif al-Zayani met him at a palace there, a presidential aide said.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, as decision time looms for a nuclear deal with world powers, sought Wednesday to win the support of the religious community at the "backbone" of the Islamic republic.

"For the government and the people of Iran, Qom is not a city, but the symbol of religious life," Rouhani, who faces criticism on the home front, said in a speech in the Shiite holy city of Qom.

A key Algerian opposition figure charged Wednesday that the country has slumped into a power vacuum because of aging President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's ailing health.

"Parliament has come to a halt... the government cannot submit laws without holding cabinet meetings," said Ali Benflis, a beaten challenger of the veteran president in an election last year.