Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Jordan will meet Sunday to discuss ways to support Amman as it looks to tackle an economic crisis in the wake of protests.

The UN General Assembly will hold an emergency meeting next Wednesday at 3:00 pm (19:00 GMT) to vote on an Arab-backed resolution on Gaza, the body's president Miroslav Lajcak announced Friday.

Nationalist Moqtada Sadr, whose bloc won the largest share of seats in Iraq's May legislative elections, has strengthened his parliamentary position by forming an alliance with two other lists.

The Islamic State group used at least 10 suicide bombers on Friday in a massive attack on Albu Kamal, in which they retook parts of the eastern Syrian town, a monitor said.

Any military assault to capture a key rebel-held port in Yemen would have a "catastrophic humanitarian impact" in the country already reeling from a brutal conflict, the United Nations warned Friday.

The United Nations Security Council overnight slapped sanctions on six leaders of human trafficking networks operating in Libya, a first for the world body, diplomats said.

An Iraqi refugee in France thought to be a former senior member of the Islamic State group has been arrested in Paris and indicted on suspicion of "war crimes" over his alleged involvement in a massacre in his country.

Iran held its annual day of protest against Israel on Friday, determined to show defiance at a time of mounting pressure from the United States and its regional allies.

The death toll from air strikes thought to have been carried out by Russian jets on a residential area in northwestern Syrian has risen to 38 civilians, a Britain-based monitor said Friday.

The toll, which includes five children, increased after bodies were pulled from the rubble and victims died of their injuries after the raids late Thursday in the area of Zardana in the northwestern Idlib province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

Israeli farmer Avner Yona holds up a wooden-framed sheet of plastic almost as large as he is, fitted with a now blackened tail ribbon that shows the kite-maker's malicious intent.