Prisoners escape from Libyan jail

Security forces on high alert after reported escape by 120 "common criminals" from a prison in the capital Tripoli.

About 120 prisoners have escaped from a jail in the Libyan capital Tripoli, Khaled al-Sharif, National Guard chief, has told AFP news agency.

He said security services were on high alert to catch them.

Monday's breakout comes less than a week before the October 20 first anniversary of former leader Muammar Gaddafi's capture and death in his home town, Sirte.

"About 120 common criminals escaped from al-Jadaida prison today. Security services are on high alert to catch them," Sharif said.

"We are trying to hunt them down and some have already been arrested."

Earlier this year Libyan authorities took control of several prisons, including al-Jadaida, which were previously in the hands of former rebels who fought Gaddafi's forces last year's revolt that deposed him and in which he was killed.

The justice ministry controls al-Jadaida prison which is reserved for common criminals. In August there was a mutiny at the facility in which two inmates were hurt.

Rights groups have regularly denounced human-rights violations of leaders from the previous regime who are being held in prisons still under the control of former rebels.

Syria bans Turkish civilian flights from its airspace

Syria has banned Turkish passenger planes from its airspace, the foreign ministry said Sunday, prompting Turkey to announce a similar ban on Syrian flights. The row comes days after a Syrian airliner was intercepted and forced to land in Ankara.

Qatar insists investments in France not driven by 'politics'

Qatar defended its continuing investments in France on Monday, claiming they were not motivated by "political ambitions". The Gulf state has sparked fears in some quarters that its financial ventures are inspired by a desire to promote Islamism.

UN envoy Brahimi in Turkey for talks on Syria tensions

Violence raged across Syria on Saturday as special peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and Germany's foreign minister held talks with Turkish officials amid rising tensions between Ankara and Damascus over cross-border shelling.

Hezbollah admits launching drone over Israel

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah (pictured) said Thursday that his Shiite militant group launched the Iranian-built drone which entered Israeli airspace last week. The drone travelled hundreds of miles from Lebanon before being shot down.

Palestinians killed in Israeli air strike

Two killed and a child wounded in northern town, in what Israel claims was an attack on an al-Qaeda-inspired group.

The attack targeted an unidentified man driving a motorcyle, medical sources said [Reuters]

An Israeli air strike has killed one Palestinian and wounded two others, including a child, in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical sources said. Sheikh Hisham al-Saedini, 43, also known as Abu al-Waleed al-Maqdisi, one of the founding members of Salafist group the Mujahedeen Shura Council, was killed in a strike late on Saturday on the north Gaza town of Jabaliya, Palestinian security sources said. Fellow Salafist activist Fayek Abu Jazar, 42, died with him as they rode a motorbike. Two other people, one of them a 12-year-old boy, were wounded. A 12-year-old boy and a man who were near the motorcycle were wounded. The Israeli military spokesperson confirmed the attack, saying the Mujahedeen Shura Council was "responsible for terrorist activities". Following the fatal strike, the air force also hit a training camp in Gaza City of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, which controls the strip, Palestinian sources said. No casualties were reported. Earlier on Saturday, the air force hit three targets in Gaza, hours after a rocket fired from the territory exploded near a house in southern Israel, sources on both sides said. "Aircraft targeted a terror activity site in the northern Gaza Strip, and two terror activity sites in the central Gaza Strip. Direct hits were confirmed," a statement from the Israeli military said. "The sites were targeted in response to the rocket fire towards southern Israel." Palestinian security officials said there were no casualties from the strikes, one of which hit an unmanned training camp of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades south of Gaza City. They said the other two hit open ground near the Nusseirat and Al-Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza, possibly used as rocket launch sites.

Rival protesters clash in Egypt's capital

Clashes have erupted in Cairo's Tahrir Square as supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi tried to wrest control of the iconic square in rival rallies. The state news agency on Friday cited a doctor at a hospital near Tahrir saying at least 100 people have been injured as protesters showered stones at each other in some of the worst violence over the country's new leader. The clashes started after Brotherhood supporters tore down a podium belonging to a group that was chanting anti-Morsi slogans, witnesses said. Morsi's supporters, mainly his powerful Muslim Brotherhood movement, had called their rally to denounce this week's acquittals of Hosni Mubarak-era officials. His opponents, a coalition of liberal and secular leaning groups, had previously called their own rally to denounce Islamist control over a body drafting the new constitution, and Morsi's performance in office. "Down with the Supreme Guide's rule," Morsi's opponents chanted, referring to Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie. Confusion reigned in the large square, the nerve centre of protests that toppled Mubarak early last year, as fighting broke out in several areas of the central Cairo hub. Protesters torched two buses used by the Brotherhood to drive supporters into central Cairo, sending plumes of smoke into the air, witnesses said.