The Yemeni president has accused U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths of siding with the country's Huthi rebels in a letter addressed to the U.N. chief. 

Oman said Friday it was trying to reduce spiraling tensions between the United States and Iran as the Pentagon confirmed it was considering deploying more troops to the region.

Iraq's top diplomat Friday called on Iran to respect the landmark deal covering its nuclear programme, which has been weakened by the US decision to withdraw from it and Tehran's backing away from certain commitments.

"We think the JCPOA is a good agreement," said Iraq's Foreign Minister Mohammed Ali al-Hakim, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action signed by Iran in 2015 with Russia, China, Germany, Britain and the United States.

Donald Trump's administration is planning to bypass Congress to allow the sale of $7 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which are involved in a bloody war in Yemen, The New York Times reported Thursday.

The fight for control of Libya's capital is depriving tens of thousands of pupils of their education, with high school students displaced by the violence fretting about their future.

A former Israeli soldier wanted by Colombia for sex trafficking, including of minors, has been arrested in Portugal, Spanish police, which took part in the operation, said Thursday.

The United States is considering deploying more troops to the Middle East as it looks for ways to enhance the protection of its forces in the turbulent region, acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Thursday.

Saudi Arabia on Thursday shot down a bomb-laden drone deployed by rebels in neighbouring Yemen to attack an airport in the kingdom, the Riyadh-led coalition fighting on the side of Yemen's government said.

"An explosive-laden drone sent by the terrorist Huthi militia to target Najran airport" was intercepted and destroyed by the Saudi air force, coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki was quoted by state media as saying.

Syrian government aircraft bombed several towns in northwestern Syria on Thursday killing five civilians as troops and militia battled jihadists on the ground, a monitor said.

The head of the United Nations organisation for Palestinian refugees on Thursday rejected a US call to dismantle the agency, saying it cannot be blamed for stalled peace efforts.