South Sudanese rights groups demanded Thursday an international arms embargo for their conflict-wracked nation, as millions of dollars worth of newly-bought weapons fuel an almost nine-month long civil war.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called Friday for a global coalition of nations to combat Islamic State jihadists' "genocidal agenda" in Syria and Northern Iraq.

The U.N. Security Council on Friday called on Shiite rebels in Yemen to end their armed uprising against the government and warned of sanctions.

In a statement adopted unanimously, the 15-member council condemned actions by the Huthis who are demanding the resignation of the government of President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.

The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to extend the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon and strongly condemned attempts to threaten the country’s security and stability.

In extending the mission’s mandate until August 31 2015, the Council commended the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon for helping to establish a “new strategic environment in southern Lebanon” and called for further cooperation between the force and the Lebanese army.

The U.N. Monday accused jihadists in Iraq of waging a campaign of "ethnic and religious cleansing", as Syria said it was ready to work with the global community against "terrorism".

The accusation by U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay came as Kurdish peshmerga forces pushed back Islamic State (IS) jihadists northeast of Baghdad a day after the militants overran a key military airport in Syria.

Libya's neighbors Monday backed an Egyptian call for rival militias in the tumultuous North African country to be disarmed, agreeing with Cairo that there should be no foreign intervention to stem spiraling lawlessness.

Foreign ministers from Libya, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan and Chad met a day after Cairo denied Islamist militia accusations that it had conducted an air strike against Islamists in Tripoli.

Britain, France and Germany have launched a fresh bid at the U.N. to end six weeks of violence in Gaza, after Israeli warplanes killed three top Hamas commanders, inflicting a heavy blow on the movement's armed wing.

The European initiative on Thursday came as fighting flared on the ground and an Egyptian-led effort to broker peace talks teetered on the verge of collapse.

The U.N.'s outgoing rights chief leveled harsh criticism at the Security Council on Thursday, saying the top world body too often lacked resolve to end conflicts and save lives.

Navi Pillay, who steps down in the coming days as U.N. Human Rights Commissioner after six years, said national interests often trumped human suffering when the council weighed action to put an end to wars.

Israeli warplanes killed three top Hamas commanders in southern Gaza on Thursday, inflicting a heavy blow on the movement's armed wing after failing to kill its top military chief.

As the six-week war between Israel and Hamas raged on, leaving Egyptian mediated truce talks in tatters, warplanes pounded Gaza killing three members of the Islamist movement's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

South Sudan's civil war entered its ninth month Friday with rebels and government troops engaged in heavy battles, both sides said, days after U.N. warnings of sanctions over the conflict.

Fighting was reported around the town of Bentiu, capital of the northern oil state of Unity, as well as in the Ayod region of Jonglei state, with each two side accusing the other of launching attacks.