The death toll from week-long anti-government protests that erupted in the Iraqi capital and other cities at the start of the month totaled 157, an official inquiry found on Tuesday.

US Defence Secretary Mark Esper discussed "strategic cooperation" with Saudi King Salman Tuesday, shortly after Washington ordered thousands of soldiers to the kingdom as tensions fester with Iran.

The meeting in Riyadh, where Esper arrived late Monday after an unannounced visit to Afghanistan, also took in defence issues and the current situation in the region, the official SPA news agency said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday to discuss the situation in northern Syria, where Turkey has vowed to resume an offensive against Kurdish fighters.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited government troops on the front line with jihadists in Idlib Tuesday, his first visit to the northwestern province since the start of the conflict.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday threatened to resume Turkey's military offensive in Syria "with greater determination" unless the withdrawal of Kurdish fighters is completed under a US-brokered deal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed the country's president Monday he could not form a new government following deadlocked September elections, making way for his opponent Benny Gantz to try.

President Donald Trump said Monday a small number of U.S. troops remain in Syria, some near the border with Jordan and others deployed to secure oil fields.

Iran on Monday denounced as "unacceptable" any move by Turkey to establish military bases in Syria, saying such a step would face opposition from the Islamic republic and other countries.

While President Donald Trump insists he's bringing home Americans from "endless wars" in the Mideast, his Pentagon chief says all U.S. troops leaving Syria will go to western Iraq and the American military will continue operations against the Islamic State group.

They aren't coming home and the United States isn't leaving the turbulent Middle East, according to current plans outlined by U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper before he arrived in Afghanistan on Sunday. The fight in Syria against IS, once spearheaded by American allied Syrian Kurds who have been cast aside by Trump, will be undertaken by U.S. forces, possibly from neighboring Iraq.

Influential Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr has given his supporters the green light to resume anti-government protests, after the movement was interrupted following a deadly crackdown.