Turkish authorities allowed imprisoned Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan to see his lawyers on Wednesday for the first time since lifting a ban on such meetings last week.

The United States has said it suspects that Syrian government forces have carried out a fresh chemical attack, threatening reprisals.

Syrian government air strikes killed 15 civilians, 12 of them in a market, as fierce fighting raged for the jihadist-held northwest, a monitor said on Wednesday.

A United Nations arms expert held in Tunisia since late March on espionage charges was released Tuesday on bail, the prosecution service said.

Jihadists launched a counterattack against regime forces Tuesday on the edges of their bastion in northwestern Syria, leaving 14 jihadists and nine pro-government fighters dead, a monitor said.

Egyptian authorities have ordered the release of a former diplomat who was detained after proposing a referendum on the regime of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, his lawyer said on Monday.

The family of a Palestinian former intelligence agent, who have claimed that he was tortured by Turkish authorities, said Tuesday that Egyptian prosecutors had approved their request for an autopsy.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday it was "quite possible" Iran was responsible for sabotage of Gulf oil interests, although he stopped short of making a definitive conclusion.

Egypt's interior ministry said Tuesday 16 suspected militants have been killed in North Sinai, where security forces have for years been battling a local affiliate of the Islamic State group.

State-run Iraqi media is quoting Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi as saying that Baghdad will send delegations to the U.S. and Iran to help end tensions between the two countries.

Abdul-Mahdi, whose country has close ties to both Iran and the U.S., said Tuesday that Iranian and U.S. officials have informed Iraq that they have "no desire in fighting a war."