The 18-year-old Saudi asylum seeker who fled her family and harnessed the power of Twitter to stave off deportation from Thailand was en route to Canada late Friday, in a surprise twist after officials gave heavy hints she was bound for Australia.

The United States voiced alarm Friday over the escalation of violence in Yemen and urged restraint after a rebel drone attack on the country's largest airbase killed six loyalist soldiers.

The U.S. military has started moving non-essential equipment out of Syria but it is not withdrawing troops for now, a defense official said Friday as the Pentagon sought to clarify an earlier statement.

A key Israeli opposition figure has slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's public criticism of authorities investigating him on graft allegations, saying such behavior was not "normal."

An estimated 25,000 people have fled escalating violence over the last six months in eastern Syria, where die-hard jihadists are defending their last bastions, the UN said Friday. 

The UN envoy to Yemen said he was "alarmed" over the escalation of violence after a rebel drone attack on the country's largest airbase killed six loyalist soldiers.

Bahrain on Friday rejected a UN call to release prominent activist Nabeel Rajab, saying he is serving a five-year sentence for "false" tweets "which do not fall within freedom of expression".

The remarks by the General Directorate of Anti-Corruption and Economic and Electronic Crimes came a week after the UN human rights office called on Bahrain to "immediately and unconditionally release" Nabeel Rajab.

Egyptian authorities have confirmed two German nationals suspected of attempting to join an Islamic State group affiliate have been arrested, and one was deported, Egyptian security sources said Friday. 

German media reported earlier this month that two Germans had gone missing after arriving separately in Egypt in December.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brought the Trump administration's anti-Iran message to Gulf Arab states on Friday as he continued a nine-nation tour of the Middle East aimed at reassuring America's partners that withdrawing troops from Syria does not mean Washington is abandoning the region.

Pompeo was traveling to Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates where he will call for increasing pressure on Iran and push for unity among Gulf neighbors still embroiled in a festering dispute with Qatar. He'll also be promoting a U.S.-backed initiative to form what some have termed an "Arab NATO" that would bring the region together in a military alliance to counter threats from Iran.

The US-led military coalition in Syria has begun pulling out troops, a spokesman said on Friday without elaborating on locations or timetables.