Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Thursday stressed the need to move ahead with the joint economic projects Jordan and Iraq have agreed on, primarily including the railway project linking the two countries and the oil pipeline.

Daesh militants have set fire to oil wells northeast of the city of Tikrit to obstruct an assault by Shiite militiamen and Iraqi soldiers trying to drive them from the Sunni Muslim city and surrounding towns, a witness said.

After years of strained relations over the Syrian conflict, Palestinian Islamist group Hamas is looking to mend ties with its traditional backer Iran. But reconciliation is proving far from simple.