Outlawed and repressed, the Muslim Brotherhood was not behind the recent protests in Egypt, but has sought to capitalize on a new wave of dissent, analysts say.

International human rights groups demanded justice Wednesday for slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying that a year after his brutal murder, Saudi authorities had yet to provide any "meaningful accountability.".

Two demonstrators were shot dead Wednesday in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah, a health official said, bringing the death toll in violent protests across the country this week to five. 

Abdulhussein al-Jaberi, the health chief for Dhi Qar province, told AFP that another five protesters and 11 security force members were wounded in the latest clashes.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced a key day Wednesday in his attempt to remain premier, with both a hearing into corruption allegations against him and his unity government talks nearing a dead end.

The party of Israel's ex-military chief Benny Gantz on Tuesday pulled out of planned talks on forming a unity government with main rival Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following deadlocked elections.

Tunisia's court of appeal rejected on Tuesday a fresh request to release jailed media mogul and presidential candidate Nabil Karoui, one of his lawyers said, less than two weeks before the election runoff.

Two demonstrators were killed and more than 200 people injured Tuesday, health officials said, in clashes with security forces during protests in Baghdad and the provinces that mounted the first challenge to Iraq's fragile one-year-old government.

A U.S. navy official visited Saudi Arabia to discuss maritime defense coordination following last month's twin attacks on key oil facilities in the kingdom. 

A bomb blast Tuesday near a key oil field in eastern Syria targeted U.S.-backed fighters but killed three workers instead, a war monitor said Tuesday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said his country's patience with U.S. efforts to create a safe zone in northern Syria was running out, indicating an operation was imminent.