The U.N. Security Council on Friday expressed deep concern for thousands of civilians trapped in the Syrian city of Palmyra after it was captured by Islamic State fighters.

The 15-member council called for safe passage for fleeing civilians and stated their "grave concern" for the protection of the ancient city, a World Heritage site.

Burundian troops loyal to the president fought off soldiers backing a top general Thursday a day after he launched a coup against the central African nation's leader Pierre Nkurunziza.

Rival factions fought intense battles around the state television and radio complex, with broadcasts to the nation halted for some time, but resuming after a fierce attack by coup troops was repulsed.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Monday appealed for international backing for Europe's efforts to confront the Mediterranean migrant crisis and save lives.

Mogherini spoke at the U.N. Security Council as it prepares to endorse a controversial European Union plan that provides for military action to stem the tide of refugees making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean.

U.N. troops are preparing an offensive against Hutu rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo after plans for a joint operation with the Congolese army fell through, the U.N. peacekeeping chief said Thursday.

Herve Ladsous told reporters following a closed-door meeting of the U.N. Security Council that the U.N. mission MONUSCO would carry out unilateral operations to drive out the Hutu militia based in eastern DR Congo.

The United Nations has sent reinforcements to its Democratic Republic of Congo peacekeeping force near the eastern town of Beni, after two soldiers were killed and 13 others wounded in an ambush Tuesday. 

"This morning we sent reinforcements to the Beni area -- a rapid response unit to back up those caught in ambush," Felix Prosper Basse, spokesman for the U.N.'s MONUSCO DRCongo mission, told AFP a day after two Tanzanian peacekeepers and two civilians were killed near Beni.

The United States wants the U.N. Security Council to set up an investigation on the use of chemical weapons in Syria following reports of chlorine gas attacks, diplomats said Wednesday.

The investigation would be carried out by a team of experts appointed by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and tasked with establishing who is to blame for the attacks. 

Saudi Arabia's King Salman said Tuesday that Gulf leaders must stand up to Iran, as Yemeni rebels backed by Tehran attacked a Saudi border town with mortar shells.

Salman's call came at a meeting of Gulf monarchs in Riyadh that was also attended by French President Francois Hollande, who said his country was "by the side" of Gulf nations.

Troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo have killed 16 Ugandan rebels in two days of clashes in the troubled northeast of the country, a military spokesman announced on Tuesday.

"The provisional toll is 16 dead on the rebel side and two injured in the (Congolese army). Six AK-47s (Kalashnikov assault rifles) were recovered," Major Victor Masandi of operation Sokola 1, which hunts the foreign rebels, told Agence France Presse.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Monday said Australia and Europe were in talks on how to stop asylum-seeker boats after the success of his government's controversial polices on the issue.

Another 5,800 migrants desperate to reach Europe were rescued this weekend as they tried to cross the Mediterranean, more than 2,150 of them on Sunday, the Italian coastguard said.

The U.N. Security Council on Friday demanded an immediate halt to an upsurge in fighting in Mali and threatened to impose sanctions against those responsible for the violence.

The 15-member council said renewed fighting this week "threatens to undermine the peace process" and "demanded that the hostilities cease immediately."