Drone strikes killed nine suspected al-Qaida militants Saturday in southeast Yemen, where the U.S. military launched a failed operation last month to rescue an American hostage, security and tribal sources said.

"Several drone strikes have targeted al-Qaida positions in Nusab (in Shabwa province), killing nine members of the network," a security source told AFP.

A U.S. Navy civilian engineer was arrested Friday on charges of trying to steal schematics of a new nuclear aircraft carrier and have them sent to Egypt, the Justice Department said.

An undercover FBI agent posed as an Egyptian intelligence officer to snare Mostafa Ahmed Awwad, 35, from the state of Virginia, who is charged with two counts of attempting to export defense articles and technical data.

Britain will open a new military base in Bahrain in a deal to increase cooperation in tackling security threats in the region, the Gulf kingdom's foreign minister said on Saturday.

Gulf states including Bahrain have found common ground with the United States and European powers in opposing Islamic State militants, and its crown prince on Friday urged war on "evil theocracy".

Denmark urged wealthy Gulf states Friday to honor their promises on funding humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees as a crucial U.N. food aid program was cut after running out of money.

Denmark, already a big donor, said it could help the U.N. program, which was supporting 1.7 million Syrian refugees, but it blasted Gulf states for not paying up.

Bahrain urged the international community to focus its efforts on combating the "evil theocracy" of jihadist groups such as the Islamic State, at the opening of a security conference on Friday.

"I call on you to discard the term 'war on terror' and focus on the real threat which is the rise of this evil theocracy," said Bahrain's crown prince, Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa.

Jordan's King Abdullah II warned Friday that the fight against Islamic State militants is a "third world war," as President Barack Obama pledged a sizable U.S. aid increase to his country.

As the two men met at the White House, Obama promised to increase U.S. aid to Jordan from $660 million to more than $1 billion per year.

Egypt's prosecutor general Friday ordered an investigation into what it said were fabricated audio tapes claiming president Mohammed Morsi had been "illegally" detained immediately after his ouster last year.

Morsi, the country's first freely elected president, was ousted on July 3, 2013 by then army chief and now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi after mass street protests against the Islamist's one-year rule.

The United Nations said Friday it would continue providing food assistance for millions of Syrian refugees after a campaign to raise funds on social media secured $21.5 million (17.5 million euros) in the first 24 hours.

But a further $42.5 million is still needed by the U.N.'s World Food Program to provide food vouchers to almost 1.7 million Syrians who have fled to Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Egypt up until the end of the month.

Three British men were sentenced to prison for terror offenses on Friday, as security forces crack down on what they say is a mounting threat from jihadists radicalized by the Syria conflict.

Childhood friends Mohammed Ahmed and Yusuf Sarwar, both aged 22 from Birmingham in central England, were jailed for 12 years and eight months each.

The leader of the moderate Syrian opposition said on Friday that cuts to U.N. food aid for 1.7 million Syrian refugees amounted to "an execution order" overseen by the international community.

"This amounts to an execution order for killing 1.7 million people under famine, especially during this harsh wintertime," Syrian National Coalition President Hadi al-Bahra said at a press conference in Copenhagen.