British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived in Jordan on Monday for a visit to a Syrian refugee camp and talks with King Abdullah II, the foreign ministry in Amman said.

"Britain is the second largest contributor to the Syrian refugee crisis after the U.S.," Cameron told reporters after meeting the monarch.

Sources close to Prime Minister Tammam Salam have said that Jordanian authorities expressed readiness to facilitate the export of Lebanese products through the Port of Aqaba.

The sources told al-Mustaqbal daily published on Thursday that the pledge was made during Salam's one-day visit to Jordan a day earlier.

The World Food Program said Wednesday it had to cut food aid for Syrian refugees in Lebanon in half because of a funding crisis and may soon have to halt all food support for most refugees in Jordan.

Lebanon and Jordan are among five countries that host some 4 million Syrian war refugees. The U.N. refugee agency warned last week that with the Syria conflict in its fifth year, funding levels for refugee aid programs dropped to a dangerous low in 2015.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Saturday urged the resumption of Middle East peace talks, while warning that continued Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank damaged chances of a final deal. 

"What's important is that negotiations restart," Fabius told reporters during a visit to Cairo, where he held what he said were intensive talks with Egyptian officials on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Jordan said Saturday that former Iraqi foreign minister Tareq Aziz will be buried on its soil after approving a request from his family to hold the funeral in the kingdom.

Aziz, who served as the voice of Saddam Hussein's regime for two decades, died in hospital on Friday aged 79.

A deal that the Lebanese army had signed with Russia to buy anti-tank guided missiles and rocket launchers is facing an obstacle caused by the western sanctions imposed on Russia, As Safir daily reported on Tuesday.

The newspaper said that the agreement with Moscow to buy Kornet missiles and the long range rocket launchers faced technical and political problems because Lebanese authorities failed to transfer 38 million dollars to Russia.

The U.N. Security Council demanded the immediate release of all hostages held by the Islamic State group, as Jordan vowed to do everything it can to save the life of a pilot captured by the militants.

The 15-member council condemned on Sunday the "heinous and cowardly" murder of a Japanese journalist after the jihadist group claimed he had been beheaded.

Jordan demanded proof Thursday that a pilot threatened with execution by the Islamic State group was alive, as a deadline set by the jihadists to free a female militant expired.

IS had vowed to kill airman Maaz al-Kassasbeh unless Iraqi jihadist Sajida al-Rishawi was handed over at the Turkish border in return for captured Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.

Thousands of Jordanians took to the streets of Amman and other cities Friday to support Hamas and condemn Israel's offensive in Gaza, where more than 800 Palestinians have been killed.

Around 2,000 people demonstrated in central Amman after Friday midday prayers, chanting: "We sacrifice our blood and souls for you, Gaza," in support of Hamas' armed wing the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

A Gulf rights group has called for the release of thousands of prisoners of conscience in the oil-rich Gulf states as it marked what it called Gulf Detainees Day to highlight their plight.

The Gulf monarchies do not allow political parties and criticism of rulers can easily land someone in jail.