The New York Times and The Intercept say they have reviewed hundreds of pages of purported Iranian intelligence documents that detail Iran’s massive influence in neighboring Iraq.

They say the unprecedented leak of 700 pages of Iranian intelligence cables shows Tehran’s efforts to embed itself in Iraq, including paying Iraqi agents working for the United States to switch sides.

It posted tens of thousands of troops in Iraq, huddled with its leaders and helped craft its laws -- but with the country swamped by deadly protests, Washington is staying out of the fray.

Air strikes by Syrian regime ally Russia on Sunday killed nine civilians in the jihadist-run enclave of Idlib in the northwest of the country, a war monitor said.

While Baghdad anti-regime protesters have clashed with riot police, their supporters in Mosul are using art to fight for change, with a new take on the resistance anthem "Bella Ciao".

Anti-government protesters in Iraq have closed some roads in response to a call for a strike from an influential cleric.

The protesters are also trying to expand their presence in the Iraqi capital further after seizing control of a strategic square in central Baghdad.

Anti-government demonstrators spread to a second bridge in the Iraqi capital Saturday after security forces retreated from a key area where they had clashed with protesters, AFP correspondents said.

Protesters have occupied Baghdad's Tahrir (Liberation) Square for more than three weeks, demanding the overhaul of a ruling system they see as corrupt and unjust.

A car bomb killed 14 people, nine of them civilians, on Saturday in the Turkish-controlled town of Al-Bab in northern Syria, a war monitor said.

The bomb, which struck a bus and taxi station in the town, also wounded 33 people, some of them seriously, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Israel targeted Hamas in strikes on Gaza early Saturday after rockets were fired towards it from the Palestinian enclave, the army said, two days after a fragile ceasefire began.

Tunisia's president tasked Habib Jemli on Friday with forming a government after the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party nominated the former secretary of state for the prime minister's job.

Israel launched fresh strikes against Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza early Friday in response to rocket fire, underscoring the fragility of a ceasefire agreed after an escalation that killed 34 Palestinians.