Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has said the government will look into revising an anti-protest law and take recommendations on releasing jailed youths.

Sisi's comments came at the end of a two-day "youth conference" on Thursday, an effort to reach out to young Egyptians as the country braces for austerity reforms to salvage its battered economy.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party aims to hold its first congress since 2009 by the end of this year, an official said, in what some analysts have called a bid by the 81-year-old to stave off rivals.

Moscow on Thursday denied any involvement in bloody air strikes on a Syrian school as its relations with the West took another hit and the EU slapped more sanctions on its ally Damascus.

The European Union on Thursday added 10 top Syrian officials to its sanctions blacklist for their role in the "violent repression" of the civilian population.

At least three children were killed and 14 injured in a rebel rocket attack on a school in the government-held west of Aleppo city on Thursday, Syrian state media said.

Air strikes that hit a school in rebel-held Idlib province in northwest Syria killed 22 children and six teachers, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF said Wednesday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that the military operation supporting Syrian opposition fighters in northern Syria will target the IS-held city of Raqa.

Two Yazidi women activists who escaped the Islamic State group in Iraq won the European Parliament's prestigious Sakharov human rights prize on Thursday, European sources told AFP.

The prize will be awarded to Nadia Murad and Lamia Haji Bashar during a session of the assembly in Strasbourg, France, the sources said shortly before the official announcement.

The European Union has begun training the Libyan coast guard as part of efforts to curb the growing influx of irregular migrants from North Africa, EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini said Thursday.

Israel has expanded the fishing zone off the Gaza coast to allow Palestinian fishermen to sail out further.

COGAT, the Israeli defense body that handles civilian issues with the Palestinians, announced the new limits Thursday saying they would stay in effect for the coming two months to coincide with the fishing season. The new maritime perimeter expands the fishing zone off parts of Gaza by three more nautical miles to nine.