The Islamic State group (IS) pushed back an offensive by US-trained Syrian rebels on a key route linking militants territory in eastern Syria to Iraq, a monitor said Wednesday.

A Minya court judge ordered on Tuesday the release on bail of eight defendants, who were arrested in connection to attacks on Christians in Minya’s Karam village in May.

Eleven Kurdish rebels and three of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards were killed in clashes near the Iraqi border, the Fars news agency reported on Tuesday.

A group of clerics in Pakistan has declared marriage between transgender individuals permissible in Islam, saying they have a right to be buried in Muslim ceremonies, according to a copy of a religious edict Reuters obtained on Monday.

A suicide bomber detonated explosives at a Sunni mosque near Baghdad where worshippers were gathered for prayers, killing at least nine people, officials said on Tuesday.

Three coordinated Islamic State bomb attacks on Yemeni government forces killed 38 people in the southern port city of Mukalla on Monday, medics and security sources said.

An Egyptian court ordered on Tuesday the release on bail of eight people detained over sectarian violence by a Muslim mob against Christians in Upper Egypt last month, a defence lawyer said.

At least 14 people were killed in a series of bombings Monday that targeted troops in Yemen's southeastern city of Mukalla, which Al-Qaeda was driven out of in April, a security official said.

Weapons shipped into Jordan for Syrian rebels by the Central Intelligence Agency and Saudi Arabia were stolen by Jordanian intelligence operatives and sold to arms merchants on the black market, the New York Times reported, citing American and Jordanian officials.

Two conscripts were killed and two others were injured after a roadside bomb detonated in a passing armored personnel carrier passed. The victims were transferred to Arish Hospital, according to a medical source in North Sinai.

Cairo Court considers trial of 213 accused of belonging to Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis A Cairo Criminal Court will consider Saturday a trial of 213 people, allegedly accused of belonging to militant group of Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis that committed a total of 54 crimes against police personnel, and tried to assassinated former Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim, Youm7 reported.

Bahrain on Monday jailed five Shia on charges linked to "terrorism" and revoked their citizenships, the prosecution said. Three defendants were found guilty of joining the clandestine "Al-Mukhtar Brigades" Shia group, possession of weapons for use in "terror" attacks and assaulting police, a prosecution statement said.

The Islamic State (IS) group Sunday published a video showing the execution-style killing of five Syrian citizen journalists they kidnapped eight months ago in the east of the war-torn country.

The number of people killed in an explosion and in clashes between militiamen and locals in a town east of Tripoli has risen to 40, an official said on Wednesday.

US-backed Kurdish and Arab fighters advanced Thursday into the Islamic State jihadist group's bastion of Manbij in northern Syria, sparking fierce street fighting as they push to take the city. Backed by air strikes by the US-led coalition bombing IS in Syria and Iraq, fighters with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance entered Manbij from the south, a monitoring group said.

A police sergeant was shot dead and a low-ranking policeman injured Wednesday afternoon in the North Sinai governorate capital Al-Arish, Egypt's interior ministry announced.

Congo called Wednesday for its diplomats in France to be better protected after the country's embassy in Paris was attacked by a mob that broke into the mission and started a fire.