Egyptian courts sentenced nearly 100 people to prison for up to 25 years Thursday after finding them guilty of violence during protests in support of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.

Hundreds of Morsi supporters have been handed lengthy jail terms and death sentences after speedy trials amid a brutal crackdown by the authorities since the Islamist's overthrow in July last year.

A cruise liner returning from Greece was pressed into action in rough seas off Cyprus Thursday to rescue 345 people thought to be Syrian refugees whose trawler had run into trouble.

The refugees, including dozens of children, were loaded aboard the Salamis Filoxenia cruise liner and were in "good health", according to George Ppouro, the harbor master in the Cypriot port of Limassol.

Syrian government troops recaptured the key rebel-held town of Adra northeast of the capital Damascus on Thursday, a security source said.

But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said fighting was ongoing and despite army advances, the regime still did not have full control of the town.

Yemen has freed two Iranians said to be members of the Islamic republic's elite Revolutionary Guards who were accused of links to Shiite rebels, according to sources.

The two men were released on Wednesday thanks to mediation from the neighboring Gulf state of Oman, the Yemeni security and Arab diplomatic sources said.

A series of strikes in Syria overnight by a U.S.-led coalition killed 14 jihadists from the Islamic State group and five civilians, a monitoring group said on Thursday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the militants were killed in strikes in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, and the civilians died in raids in northeastern Hasakeh.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday urged European governments to provide greater support to Syrian refugees after the launch of Western airstrikes in the country.

Turkey has voiced support for the U.S.-led strikes against Islamic State jihadists in Syria but has said that the Western forces have not used its airspace.

The United States bombed Islamic State-controlled oil refineries in Syria on Wednesday as President Barack Obama recruited more allies to fight the jihadist "network of death."

U.S., Saudi and Emirati warplanes broadened their bombardment to target the oil installations in eastern Syria that have helped fund the jihadist group's brutal rise from rebel faction to alleged global threat.

Iran's president warned the U.S. that air strikes would not destroy jihadists in Syria but appeared upbeat about securing a deal over Tehran's nuclear program, in an interview broadcast Wednesday.

The United States bombed Islamic State-controlled oil refineries in Syria as President Barack Obama rallied the world at the UN General Assembly to fight the jihadist "network of death" in Iraq and Syria.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said Wednesday that Iran could be "part of the solution" in defeating jihadists in Syria after he held landmark talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Addressing the U.N. General Assembly, Cameron said Britain had "severe disagreements" with Iran but that Tehran "should also be given the chance to show it can be part of the solution, not part of the problem."

U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday led the U.N. Security Council in unanimously approving a binding resolution on stemming the flow of foreign jihadists to Iraq and Syria.

The resolution requires all countries to adopt laws that would make it a serious crime for their nationals to join jihadist groups such as Islamic State and al-Nusra Front.