Coptic Orthodox leader Tawadros II arrives in Rome on Thursday for a historic four-day visit to meet Pope Francis -- a sign of growing rapprochement between the Vatican and the Orthodox world.

The meeting on Friday will be the first between an Egyptian patriarch of Alexandria and a head of the Roman Catholic Church since 1973 when pope Paul VI met with Tawadros' predecessor Shenouda III.

Influential Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi on Wednesday started his first visit to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, crossing into the Palestinian territory at Rafah, on the border with Egypt.

An Agence France Presse photographer said Egyptian-born Qaradawi, who is a citizen of Qatar and close to the Muslim Brotherhood, arrived in the territory shortly after 9:30 pm (1830 GMT).

The leader of the powerful jihadist rebel force, Al-Nusra Front, was wounded by army bombing near the Syrian capital on Wednesday, a watchdog said.

Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani was wounded with other members of his group in southern Damascus province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, citing militants in the area.

The United Nations on Wednesday pulled peacekeepers back from an observation post in the Golan Heights ceasefire zone where four Philippine troops were abducted by Syrian rebels, a spokesman said.

The move came as countries which contribute troops to the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) expressed renewed concern about security in the zone between Israel and war-stricken Syria.

Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan announced on Wednesday a cabinet reshuffle "in the coming days," against the backdrop of a political crisis sparked by gunmen besieging two ministries.

"There will no doubt be a ministerial reshuffle in the coming days," he told a press conference, without specifying which portfolios would change.

The United States is to donate another $100 million (76 million euros) in humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees boosting its total to $510 million, the State Department said Wednesday.

The additional funds, to be officially announced Thursday by Secretary of State John Kerry, will fund U.N. programs for shelter, food and help to refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey as well as inside Syria, it said in a statement.

Saudi authorities on Wednesday beheaded a Pakistani man found guilty of smuggling drugs into the conservative Muslim kingdom, the interior ministry said.

The man was caught attempting to smuggle an amount of heroin hidden inside his stomach, the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

Islamic authorities in Belgium tried Wednesday to deter young men from going to Syria to fight, saying the Koran provided no justification and that they risked being dangerously radicalized by extremist groups there.

"Their return from the conflict is to be much more feared than their departure," Belgium's leading Islamic groups said in a statement.

Emirati Islamists on trial accused of plotting to seize power in the Gulf state on Wednesday publicly appealed to the president to probe their alleged torture in custody and denied the charges.

"For months, we have been locked in solitary confinement in narrow cells flooded with bright light day and night. We were insulted and threatened, while some of us suffered physical torture," they wrote in a letter posted online.

British Prime Minister David Cameron announced on Wednesday he will fly to the Russian resort of Sochi on Friday to discuss the Syrian conflict with President Vladimir Putin.

The trip was confirmed by the Kremlin, which said in a statement that Cameron would be on a "working visit" without giving further details.