Saudi-led coalition warplanes struck Yemeni rebel targets, including in the capital Sanaa, on Thursday two days after the insurgents claimed drone strikes that shut a key oil pipeline in the neighbouring kingdom.

The Latest on developments in the Persian Gulf region and elsewhere in the Mideast amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran (all times local):

9:40 a.m.

No documents? No doctor. Without state-issued IDs, Iraqi mothers struggle to have children born under the now-defeated Islamic State group treated for conditions ranging from asthma to epilepsy.

Belgium, Germany and Kuwait on Wednesday requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the upsurge in fighting in northwest Syria, diplomats said.

The order to evacuate U.S. diplomats from Iraq came in response to an "imminent" threat directly linked to Iran, senior State Department officials said Wednesday.

The UAE said it will "retaliate hard" if Yemen's Huthi rebels attack civilian facilities, a day after rebels claimed drone attacks that shut down a key Saudi oil pipeline.

The UAE said Wednesday it was "committed to de-escalation" after a spike in tensions in the Gulf but warned it would retaliate hard against Yemen rebel attacks on civilian facilities in the region.

At least 24 police officers have been wounded in clashes with protesters rallying against unemployment in central Algeria, state media reported Wednesday.

Palestinians protested Wednesday for the annual commemoration of what they call the Nakba, or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands were expelled or fled during the 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel.

Germany has halted its training of soldiers in Iraq, a defence ministry spokesman said Wednesday, as tensions rise between neighbouring Iran and the United States.