A U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that was approaching the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea, U.S. Central Command said Tuesday, threatening to ramp up tensions as the Trump administration warns of possible military action to get Iran to the negotiating table.

The drone "aggressively approached" the aircraft carrier with "unclear intent" and kept flying toward it "despite de-escalatory measures taken by U.S. forces operating in international waters," Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said in a statement.

Israel's army will appoint its highest-ranking Muslim woman to replace chief Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee, the public face for Palestinians and Lebanese of its military campaigns, a military source said on Tuesday.

Major Ella Waweya will replace Lieutenant Colonel Avichay Adraee, who for people in Gaza and Lebanon is indelibly linked with Israel's deadly bombing campaigns and known for what are seen as provocative uses of colloquial Arabic, koranic verses and humor in his messages.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Riyadh on Tuesday, Saudi media said, his first visit to the kingdom in over two years as Saudi Arabia moves closer to its rival-turned-ally.

Ties between Turkey and Saudi Arabia have steadily recovered in recent years, with the countries cooperating on a range of diplomatic issues.

Kurdish forces imposed a curfew on Kurdish-majority Qamishli in northeastern Syria on Tuesday, ahead of the deployment of government troops to the city, an AFP team reported.

The curfew came after Syrian security personnel entered the mixed Kurdish-Arab city of Hasakeh and the countryside around the Kurdish town of Kobane on Monday, as part of a comprehensive agreement to gradually integrate the Kurds' military and civilian institutions into the state.

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, an Israeli official said, following the reopening of Gaza's key Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

The Israeli official did not confirm the location or subject of the meeting, but Israeli media reported Witkoff will arrive in Israel on Tuesday. Witkoff and U.S. envoy Jared Kushner held talks with Netanyahu in late January in which they reportedly pushed for the reopening of the Rafah crossing.

Iran needs to reach a deal with the United States, a senior United Arab Emirates official said on Tuesday, ahead of talks between the two sides after repeated threats of American military action.

"Iran today needs to reach a deal," presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said during the World Governments Summit in Dubai, adding that Iran needs "to rebuild their relationship with the United States".

A dozen Palestinian returnees were allowed into Gaza from Egypt late Monday after the long-awaited reopening of the Rafah border crossing was marred by delays. Their arrival came hours after a small group of medical evacuees was ferried from the territory into Egypt.

The reopening of the crossing marked a key step in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire but mostly a symbolic one, with few people allowed to travel and no goods allowed to pass through. The limitations were apparent Monday as crossings fell well short of the 50 people officials had said would be allowed to move in each direction.

A meeting between the United States and Iran is likely to take place in Turkey on February 6, an Arab official told AFP on Tuesday, after Tehran called for the restart of nuclear talks and Washington warned of consequences if a deal was not reached.

"A meeting between U.S. negotiators and senior Iranian officials was likely to take place on Friday in Turkey," the official said on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks.

Northeast Syria's Hasakeh was under a curfew on Monday as government forces were expected to enter parts of the city under an integration deal with the Kurds.

Damascus and Kurdish forces reached a comprehensive agreement on Friday to gradually integrate the Kurds' military and civilian institutions into the state, after the minority ceded territory to advancing government forces in recent weeks.

Iraq's judiciary announced on Monday it has begun its investigations into more than 1,300 Islamic State group detainees who were transferred from Syria as part of a US operation.

"Investigation proceedings have started with 1,387 members of the Daesh terrorist organization who were recently transferred from the Syrian territory," the judiciary's media office said in a statement, using the Arabic acronym for IS.