Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat says that Israel will free the first batch of a promised 104 long-serving Palestinian and Israeli Arab prisoners on August 13.

"The release of veteran prisoners will be in four batches as Israel refused to release them all at once," he said in a statement.

Yemeni tribesmen blew up the main export pipeline linking eastern oilfields to the Red Sea coast, halting the flow of oil, state media reported on Sunday.

The saboteurs attacked a section of pipeline in Wadi Abida, close to the oilfields in the eastern province of Marib, the state Saba news agency quoted an official it did not identify as saying.

Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met overnight with Islamist leaders to try and resolve the crisis pitting supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi against Egypt's new leaders.

Sisi "met with several representatives of the Islamist movements ... and stressed that there are opportunities for a peaceful solution to the crisis provided all sides reject violence," army spokesman Colonel Ahmed Aly said in a statement, without specifying who his interlocutors were.

Syria's main opposition group on Sunday urged the United Nations to probe "numerous massacres" they say were committed by President Bashar Assad's forces during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

The National Coalition also said it was ready to cooperate in any independent investigation into alleged crimes committed by opposition forces.

Kuwait's emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, named a cabinet on Sunday that, includes new oil, finance and defense ministers and seven members of the ruling Al-Sabah family.

The appointment of the new 16-member line-up came after the Gulf state's second parliamentary polls in eight months were again boycotted by the opposition.

Yemeni security forces were on high alert on Sunday around Western embassies in Sanaa which are to remain closed following a U.S. warning of a major al-Qaida attack.

Special forces with armored personnel carriers were stationed outside the U.S. embassy and the missions of Britain, France and Germany, an Agence France Presse correspondent reported.

Libya's deputy prime minister Awadh al-Barassi announced his resignation late on Saturday, slamming the government as "dysfunctional" and unable to end a wave of violence.

Barassi made the surprise announcement at a news conference in the restive eastern city of Benghazi, amid growing public anger over widespread violence and a spate of political assassinations.

Moroccans furious over the pardon of a Spanish pedophile convicted of raping 11 children between four and 15 years of age, are planning more protests after demonstrations were brutally repressed Friday.

Social media sites have called for protests in Casablanca and Rabat on Tuesday and Wednesday.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spoke Saturday with Iraqi leader Nouri al-Maliki, two days after government figures showed July was the war-battered country's deadliest month in more than five years.

Authorities have failed to stem a massive spike in violence that has killed more than 3,000 people since the beginning of the year, while Maliki's government has cracked down on protests against its rule.

Egypt's army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has lashed out at the United States, urging Washington to do more to pressure the Muslim Brotherhood to end its rallies.

In a rare interview with the Washington Post, the commander -- who led the military coup that ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi one month ago -- warned of police action to disperse such protests.