Syrian forces strengthened their hold on Palmyra on Monday and pushed forward against the Islamic State jihadist group after dealing it a major blow by retaking the ancient city.

Antiquities director Maamoun Abdulkarim said that with UNESCO's approval the treasured monuments damaged or destroyed by the jihadists could be restored in five years. 

Iraq's parliament gave embattled Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi until Thursday to present a cabinet of technocrats as Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr expanded his protest movement for reform.

Sadr himself spent the night camping in the Green Zone while thousands of his supporters continued a 10-day-old sit-in outside the gates of the fortified area in central Baghdad.

Israel on Monday advised its citizens to leave Turkey citing the potential for jihadist attacks after three Israelis were among four people killed in a March 19 suicide bombing in Istanbul.

"It has been decided to upgrade the existing travel warning vis-a-vis Turkey from a basic concrete threat to a high concrete threat, and to reiterate our recommendation to the public to avoid visiting the country and –- for Israelis currently in Turkey -– to leave as soon as possible," a government statement said.

Israeli and American energy companies controlling Israel's natural gas say they are dissatisfied with a ruling the day before by Israel's Supreme Court that struck down a government deal to begin pumping from offshore deposits.

David Stover, the chairman of Houston-based Noble Energy, said on Monday that the ruling is "disappointing."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backed down on Monday from his attempts to appoint a former settler leader as ambassador to Brazil, which has since August refused to accept the nomination. 

Netanyahu "decided to appoint Dani Dayan as consul general in New York. He will replace foreign ministry career official Ido Aharoni, who is completing his term," the prime minister's office said in a statement.

Rebels who control the Yemeni capital Sanaa have released nine Saudis in exchange for 109 Yemenis, the Riyadh-led coalition fighting them said Monday, in the latest sign of tensions easing before peace talks.

"Nine Saudi prisoners have been recovered and 109 Yemenis who were arrested in the military operations zone" near the border have been handed over, the coalition said in a statement.

Twelve Algerian soldiers were killed Sunday in a helicopter crash caused by technical failure in the south of the country, the defense ministry said.

The Mi-171 helicopter crashed during a reconnaissance mission near Reggane, in the southwestern province of Adrar, the APS press agency quoted the ministry as saying.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Sunday that Iran must change its "behavior" towards his country if it wants normal ties with the oil-rich Sunni kingdom.

As pro-government forces entered the famed Syrian city of Palmyra for the first time in nearly a year on Sunday, they feared they would find its treasured sites destroyed forever.

Saudi-led coalition warplanes carried out a series of raids in southern Yemen on Sunday targeting al-Qaida positions that killed five suspected militants, a Yemeni military official said.