Mexico called on Egypt Monday to swiftly investigate why a group of tourists were mistakenly targeted in what witnesses described as an air strike that killed at least two Mexicans.

President Enrique Pena Nieto said 14 Mexicans were among those involved in Sunday's "grave incident" in the Western Desert.

At least 26 people including two children were killed on Monday in twin suicide car bomb attacks in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakeh, a monitor said.

The attack was later claimed by the Islamic State group, which has regularly targeted Hasakeh and briefly captured parts of the city earlier this year before being expelled.

Saudi-backed loyalist forces in Yemen pressed an offensive against Shiite Huthi rebels on Monday, the second day of a major campaign aimed at retaking the capital a year after its fall.

Fighters loyal to exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi launched their much anticipated attack against the Iranian-backed rebels and their allies in the key province of Marib.

British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived in Jordan on Monday for a visit to a Syrian refugee camp and talks with King Abdullah II, the foreign ministry in Amman said.

"Britain is the second largest contributor to the Syrian refugee crisis after the U.S.," Cameron told reporters after meeting the monarch.

The replacement of Algeria's military intelligence chief, seen as a behind-the-scenes political kingmaker for a quarter of a century, marks the "end of an era," Algerian newspapers said on Monday.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika replaced General Mohamed Mediene, better known as General Toufik, on Sunday in a move that sealed his full control over the shadowy security services.

Stone-throwing may have caused a car crash that killed an Israeli motorist near a Palestinian neighborhood of Jerusalem, police said on Monday amid heightened tensions in the city.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called an "emergency meeting" of members of his cabinet to discuss ways to curb stone-throwing and petrol bombs following a number of recent incidents. 

Britain on Monday announced it had appointed a minister to deal specifically with the 20,000 Syrian refugees that the country has agreed to resettle from camps bordering the war-torn country.

"The queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of Richard Harrington MP as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State jointly at the Home Office, the Department for Communities and Local Government, and the Department for International Development," said a statement from the Downing Street office of David Cameron.

Muslims and Israeli police clashed at Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound for a second straight day Monday as Jews celebrated their new year and protesters vowed to protect Islam's third-holiest site.

As they had the day before, Israeli security forces entered the compound early on Monday to prevent Muslim youths from harassing visiting Jews, police said.

Five Saudi soldiers have died on the border with Yemen, the Saudi-led coalition said late on Sunday as forces inside Yemen began a major offensive against rebels.

A coalition statement did not say how the army soldier and four Border Guard troops died in the kingdom's southern Najran region.

Saudi Arabia's military blamed a "technical error" for a helicopter crash that killed a pilot during a training mission on Sunday.

The air force machine went down in the Taif area, more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) from the border with Yemen.