Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Friday of chaos in Libya unless peace is quickly established, as he hosted German Chancellor Angela Merkel. 

Hundreds of supporters of an influential, radical Shiite cleric gathered Friday in central Baghdad for a rally to demand that American troops leave the country amid heightened tensions after a U.S. drone strike earlier this month killed a top Iranian general in the Iraqi capital.

Since mid-morning on the Muslim day of prayers, loudspeakers blasted "No, no America!" at a central square in the Iraqi capital. A child held up a poster reading, "Death to America. Death to Israel."

Supporters of volatile Iraqi cleric Moqtada Sadr prepared on Friday for a "million-strong" march in Baghdad to demand the ouster of US troops, putting the protest-hit capital on edge.  

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main election rival to Washington next week to discuss Donald Trump's long-awaited Middle East peace plan.

The European Union on Thursday condemned renewed fighting around a rebel stronghold in northwest Syria, demanding an end to "unacceptable" air strikes that have killed civilians.

An Iraqi demonstrator was shot dead in the southern city of Basra overnight, a security source and the human rights commission said Thursday, the latest in a string of protester deaths.

The Islamic State group is weakened but a resurgence is possible if the United States leaves Iraq, US Major General Alexus Grynkewich, the number two commander for the international anti-jihadist coalition in Iraq and Syria, said Wednesday.

The group "certainly still remain a threat," he said. "They have the potential to resurge if we take pressure off of them for too long."

The Libyan capital's only operational airport has closed again after threats by forces loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar, dealing another setback to peace efforts as regional foreign ministers prepare to meet in Algeria Thursday.

Israel will lobby key leaders at this week's 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on what it considers one of the gravest modern threats to the Jewish state: Iran.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron of France and top U.S. officials before Thursday's event at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial center in Jerusalem, where dozens of dignitaries are expected.  

Egyptian authorities said Wednesday that police arrested at least six suspected militants planning "chaos" and protests on the ninth anniversary of the 2011 uprising which toppled longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak.