Saudi Aramco said Tuesday that a strike by Yemen's Huthi rebels on its plant in Jeddah tore a hole in an oil tank, triggering an explosion and fire that was however quickly extinguished.

Yemen's Houthi rebels said they struck a Saudi oil facility in the port city of Jeddah on Monday with a new cruise missile, just hours after the kingdom finished hosting its virtual Group of 20 leaders summit.

An unnamed official at the kingdom's Ministry of Energy acknowledged the attack in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency late Monday. It came after videos of a small explosion at a Saudi Arabian Oil Co. facility in Jeddah circulated on social media all day. A projectile struck a fuel tank at the Jeddah distribution station and ignited a fire, the official said.

European states involved in efforts to end the conflict in Libya on Monday threatened sanctions against any parties that harm the fragile peace process.

Britain, France, Germany and Italy in a joint statement urged "all Libyan and international parties to refrain from any parallel and uncoordinated initiative" that risked undermining the UN-led efforts. 

From his lavish Cairo apartment overlooking the Nile, Ahmed Kadhaf al-Dam reminisces fondly about the iron-fisted rule of Libya by his cousin Moamer Kadhafi, nearly a decade after his ouster.

Israeli media reports and a government source said Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had held landmark talks in Saudi Arabia with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but Riyadh denied any such meeting took place.

Britain's Supreme Court will on Monday hear the case of a woman stripped of her UK citizenship after joining the Islamic State in Syria, who wants to return to appeal the ruling.

When the Arab revolts that were sweeping the region and toppling autocrats like dominoes reached Syria, Bashar al-Assad's days at the helm looked numbered.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday appointed Faisal Mekdad as Syria's new foreign minister, replacing Walid Muallem who died last week, the presidency announced in a statement.

Mekdad will be replaced as deputy foreign minister by Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, the statement said.

The bells of St. Joseph's Chaldean Cathedral echo across Baghdad, signaling the start of Mass for the dwindling congregation that has stayed in the scarred Iraqi capital against all odds.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday defended his tour of Gulf Arab states and the Trump administration's continued efforts to squeeze Iran, even as a new U.S. administration led by Joe Biden prepares to enter the White House in January.

Although Pompeo has not taken questions from U.S.-based reporters traveling with him over the past 10 days, he sat down with the Saudi-owned broadcaster Al-Arabiya in Dubai for brief televised remarks Sunday.