The United States on Sunday called for Germany to send ground troops to northern Syria, pushing Berlin to ramp up its military involvement in the fight against the Islamic State group as Washington looks to withdraw from the region.

A suspected Palestinian car-ramming attack in the occupied West Bank has wounded five Israeli soldiers and the alleged assailant has been arrested, the Israeli army said Sunday.

Syrian regime bombardment has killed 14 civilians including seven children in northwestern Syria, a war monitor said Saturday, in the latest deadly raids on the embattled opposition bastion.

The UN Security Council called Friday for a ceasefire in Libya as the death toll from a three-month offensive on Tripoli reached 1,000, including scores killed in an air strike that hit a detention centre for migrants.

Some 1,000 people have been killed since Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar launched a push three months ago to capture Tripoli, the U.N. said Friday, including 53 detained migrants who died in a devastating air strike.

Troops loyal to Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar said they shot down a plane belonging to forces loyal to the rival unity government, which acknowledged losing contact with one of its aircraft.

Around 2,000 people protested in the Algerian capital against the interim government Friday, defying a significant police presence just days before the mandate of its president expires, witnesses said. 

Prime Minister Youssef Chahed decided Friday to ban the niqab Muslim face covering for women in Tunisian government offices "for security reasons", his office said.

Algeria's former police chief Abdelghani Hamel has been placed in provisional detention over alleged "diversion of funds and illicit enrichment", state television said Friday.

Yemeni rebel drones targeting a civilian airport in southern Saudi Arabia were intercepted on Thursday, a Riyadh-led military coalition said, as the Iran-linked group steps up attacks on the kingdom.