The U.S. Navy's Mideast-based 5th Fleet announced Monday the launch of a new joint fleet of unmanned drones with allied nations to patrol vast swaths of the region's volatile waters as tensions simmer with Iran.

Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads the 5th Fleet, told The Associated Press that 100 unmanned drones, both sailing and submersible, would dramatically multiply the surveillance capacities of the U.S. Navy, allowing it to keep a close eye on waters critical to the flow of the global oil and shipping. Trade at sea has been targeted in recent years as Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers collapsed.

Egypt has kicked off joint air and naval drills with France, one of its biggest arms suppliers, in the Mediterranean, the Egyptian army said Monday. 

Israel on Monday said it successfully tested a new naval air defense system, intercepting a series of threats in what officials called a key layer of protection against Iran and its proxies in the region.

The "C-Dome" system is a naval version of the Iron Dome, which has been used to shoot down rockets fired from the Gaza Strip for the past decade. The C-Dome is being installed on Israel's latest-generation corvette warships, which protect Israel's coastline and offshore natural gas assets in the Mediterranean.

Israel's prime minister has criticized an emerging deal over Iran's nuclear program, saying it would be weaker than a previous agreement and would create a "more violent, more volatile Middle East."

World powers have been negotiating in Vienna in a bid to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, which was left in tatters after the Trump administration, goaded by Israel, withdrew.

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi arrived in Qatar on his first visit to a Gulf Arab state Monday for a major gas summit that will be dominated by tensions over Ukraine.

The United Arab Emirates warned Sunday of the rising threat of drone attacks, such as those launched against it by Yemen's Huthi rebels, at a defense industry conference on unmanned systems. 

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Sunday that Iran may "shortly" agree a new nuclear deal with major powers but warned it will be weaker than the original 2015 agreement.

Israel has formally announced it would not cooperate with a special commission formed by the United Nations' top human rights body to investigate alleged abuses against Palestinians, saying the probe and its chairwoman were unfairly biased against Israel.

The decision, delivered in a scathing letter to the commission's head, Navi Pillay, further strained what already is a tense relationship between Israel and the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council in Geneva.

A year ago, Libya looked to be on a fragile path toward democracy, after more than a decade of civil war. Now, it appears to be sliding back toward strife and division.

After tentative steps towards unity, the country is once again being pulled apart, with two rival prime ministers claiming power.

The Jordanian military says a crackdown on drug smugglers along the Syrian border is delivering results.

During a media tour along the Syrian border on Thursday, Col. Mustafa al-Hiyari said the military was forced into action in response to increased smuggling activity and violence. In January, an army officer was killed in a shootout with smugglers.