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.

More than 360 civilians were killed during the first month of an unprecedented ceasefire in Syria, the lowest monthly toll for four years, a monitoring group said on Sunday. 

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon on Sunday welcomed the removal of Islamic State jihadists from Syria's ancient Palmyra, calling for the site to be protected for future generations.

The retrial in a high-profile case of a Qatari man accused of killing a British teacher was adjourned on Sunday after the defense lawyer failed to show up in court.

Iraqi cleric Moqtada Sadr on Sunday entered the perimeter of Baghdad's fortified "Green Zone" and began a sit-in to ramp up pressure for reforms.