French President Emmanuel Macron was in Morocco on Wednesday on a 24-hour visit for talks on battling terrorism as well as the Libyan conflict and Qatar's dispute with its Gulf neighbours.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Thursday held talks in Kuwait to push mediation efforts aimed at resolving a standoff between a Saudi-led alliance and Qatar.

Turkey is not taking sides in a dispute between Qatar and its Gulf Arab neighbours, Turkey's foreign minister said on Thursday during a Gulf tour, according to Arabic media reports.

Reuters said that the Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told reporters in Cairo that the conditions set for Qatar were necessary for the national security of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE.

A $12 billion deal to buy U.S. F-15 fighter jets shows Qatar has deep-rooted support from Washington, a Qatari official said on Thursday, despite President Donald Trump's repeated accusations that Doha supports terrorism.

Turkey expects Saudi Arabia's King Salman to lead an effort to resolve the Qatar crisis, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday, adding that imposing sanctions and embargoes would not help remedy the situation.

Prominent Egyptian political parties on Thursday criticized President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's plan to transfer two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia and urged people to take to the streets in protest.

One crew member was wounded when Yemen's Houthis fired a missile at a United Arab Emirates ship in the Red Sea, the Saudi state news agency SPA reported on Thursday.

Egypt's parliament on Wednesday backed plans to hand over two uninhabited Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia under an agreement that has attracted widespread public criticism.

An Iranian navy vessel conducted an "unsafe and unprofessional" interaction with US ships by pointing a laser at an accompanying Marine Corps helicopter, the US Navy said Wednesday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Thursday held talks in Kuwait to push mediation efforts aimed at resolving a standoff between a Saudi-led alliance and Qatar.

Qatar's Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday the country signed a deal to buy F-15 fighter jets from the United States for $12 billion.

The United Nations aviation agency said on Wednesday it was reviewing a request from Qatar to intervene after its Gulf neighbours closed their airspace to Qatar flights.

Two U.S. Navy vessels arrived in Doha to take part in a joint military exercise with the Qatari Emiri Navy on Wednesday, Qatar news agency QNA reported.

The search for a diplomatic solution to the Gulf crisis intensified Wednesday as Turkey's foreign minister landed in Qatar while the UN voiced fears over growing humanitarian concerns in the region.

Confrontation between Qatar and Saudi Arabia is creating unease among Syrian rebels who expect the crisis between two of their biggest state backers to deepen divisions in the opposition to President Bashar al-Assad.

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain appear to be violating people's human rights by threatening to jail or fine them for expressing sympathy for Qatar, U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein said on Wednesday.

There are no apparent plans by Arab states to propose that names from their Qatar blacklist be subjected to United Nations sanctions, diplomats said on Wednesday.

The Trump administration notified Congress last week that it soon planned to begin delivering precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia under a 2015 weapons deal, congressional officials said on Tuesday.

The diplomatic crisis surrounding Qatar and other Gulf countries has remained a peaceful one for now, but open warfare has been declared in the media -- both traditional and social.