Hundreds of Jordanians joined a rally Friday organized by the Muslim Brotherhood to denounce Israeli plans to enshrine in law the country's status as the national Jewish homeland.

An estimated 1,500 protesters set off from the Husseini mosque in downtown Amman holding up signs saying "Al-Aqsa is in danger".

Some 200 Syrian refugees protesting in Athens on Friday asked to be allowed access to other European countries, fearing deteriorating conditions in crisis-hit Greece.

"Crisis-hit Greece alone cannot support the weight of accommodating war refugees," said Nander Halbuni, a representative of the Syrians who have been camping on Syntagma Square in central Athens for over a week.

A French-Moroccan youth has been jailed for two years for "advocating terrorism" by flying what looked liked the black flag of the Islamic State jihadist group, a news website said Friday

Abdelmalik el-Makrini, 18, was on holiday in Morocco when he was arrested in August for flying a flag on which is written "There is no god but God, and Mohammed is his prophet," the Tel Quel site said.

More than 500 people have been killed in 2,000 air strikes across Syria by regime forces over the past 40 days, a monitoring group said Friday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights accused President Bashar Assad's government of "war crimes", saying it ought to be "listed in the Guinness Book of World Records" for the large number of strikes since October 20.

Yemen's Shiite Ansarullah militia is advancing in Taez province towards the main southern city of Aden as it seeks to expand its influence after taking the capital, officials said Friday.

Overnight, a 16-vehicle convoy of militiamen entered an eastern suburb of Taez, the country's third city, and deployed near its airport and a local radio station, the local officials said.

A Libyan commander in the forces of prominent anti-Islamist general Khalifa Haftar has been assassinated in the eastern city of Ajdabiya, military sources said Friday.

"General Abdelmajid al-Zwei was killed on Thursday night by three armed men," Colonel Ahmed al-Mesmari, spokesman for Haftar's forces, told AFP.

More than 500 civilians have been killed in a "world record" 2,000 air strikes across Syria by regime forces over the past 40 days, a monitoring group said Friday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the regime could be "listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for... carrying out some 2,000 air strikes against its people in the past 40 days".

Already struggling under the weight of an Israeli blockade, Gazans are now feeling the effects of an Egyptian exclusion zone along their shared border that has sent prices soaring.

Two people were killed Friday as Islamist protesters and police clashed in Cairo just hours after unidentified attackers shot dead two soldiers, including a senior officer, in the Egyptian capital.

The army and police had fanned out across Cairo and other cities in anticipation of rallies called by an Islamist group that opposes the military's overthrow of president Mohamed Morsi last year.

A popular former minister in Israel has announced a comeback at the head of a new party amid speculation Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is about to call early elections.

Moshe Kahlon, who resigned as communications minister in October 2012, three months before the last general election, held a founding meeting attended by 350 supporters at a seaside hotel on Thursday night, media reported on Friday.