REGION NEWS

The hajj pilgrimage, which starts at Islam's holiest sites in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, is one of the world's largest annual gatherings.

Islamic State group fighters began evacuating a Syrian-Lebanese border region Monday under an unprecedented deal to end three years of jihadist presence there, Syrian state television and Hezbollah said.

In a diplomatic icebreaker between political foes, tens of thousands of Muslim faithful from Iran have flocked to Saudi Arabia for the annual hajj pilgrimage to Islam's holiest sites.

A Yemeni colonel loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and two Huthi rebels have been killed in Sanaa, in an unprecedented escalation of violence between the allies with Saleh's party warning it could push the capital into all-out war.

Syrian government troops advanced 13 kilometres (eight miles) on Sunday in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor as they pressed an offensive against the Islamic State group, a monitor said.