Syria ended over a decade of exile from the Arab League on Monday as its officials took part in a preparatory session ahead of Friday's summit in Saudi Arabia.

"I... take this opportunity to welcome the Syrian Arab Republic to the League of Arab States," Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan told the meeting, which was broadcast live by state TV channel Al Ekhbariya.

Jadaan said he was "looking forward to working with everyone to achieve what we aspire to", as the camera panned to the Syrian delegation.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday emerged from his toughest election test unbowed and in strong position to extend two decades of his Islamic-rooted rule by another five years in a historic May 28 runoff.

The 69-year-old leader defied pollsters and his country's most dire economic crisis since the 1990s to come within a fraction of a percentage point of winning Sunday's presidential ballot.

One month since Sudan's conflict erupted, its capital is a desolate war zone where terrorised families huddle at home as gun battles rage, while the western Darfur region has descended into deadly chaos.

Residents of Khartoum have endured weeks of desperate food shortages, power blackouts, communications outages and runaway inflation.

The capital of five million, long a place of relative stability, has become a shell of its former self.

A retired civil servant who few outside Turkey have heard of has pushed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan into an election runoff -- the first of the country's post-Ottoman history.

It was a bittersweet result that left Kemal Kilicdaroglu's supporters frustrated following a heated night of vote counting in Turkey's most important election of modern times.

Nearly complete results showed Erdogan picking up 49 percent of the ballot and the secular opposition leader collecting around 45 percent.

Calm returned to Gaza Sunday as a fragile ceasefire largely held, leaving Palestinians and Israelis to count the cost of five days of cross-border fire that killed dozens.

Fishermen took to their boats in the coastal Palestinian enclave, as Gazans emerged from sheltering in their homes during the fierce exchange of fire.

The fighting broke out Tuesday with Israeli strikes on the Islamic Jihad militant group. It ceased late Saturday following days of truce talks led by Egypt.

Banned from using popular Western apps, Iranians have been left with little choice but to take up state-backed alternatives, as the authorities tighten internet restrictions for security reasons following months of protests.

Iranians are accustomed to using virtual private networks, or VPNs, to evade restrictions and access prohibited websites or apps, including the US-owned Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Turkey braced Monday for its first election runoff after a night of high drama showed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan edging ahead of his secular rival but failing to secure a first-round win.

Erdogan sounded triumphant as he emerged before a sea of supporters shortly after midnight to proclaim himself ready to lead the nation for another five years.

The Simseks have spent months huddling in tents next to their old home, laid to waste by Turkey's catastrophic quake.

How they vote Sunday could prove decisive to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's future.

Amid the wreckage of ancient Antakya, a mountain-rimmed cradle of civilisation on Turkey's border with Syria, grandfather Suphi Simsek, his daughter-in-law Dilber and granddaughter Ozlem all intend to cast ballots.

Air strikes pummelled Khartoum Saturday, with representatives of Sudan's warring factions meeting in Saudi Arabia for talks to prevent a "humanitarian catastrophe" as the fighting entered a fifth week.

A witness in west Khartoum reported army air strikes on paramilitary forces, as brutal urban warfare continued in Sudan's densely-populated capital.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan led Saturday prayers at Istanbul's iconic Hagia Sophia mosque before entering the election battle of his political life against a powerful secular rival.

The 69-year-old was emulating a ritual that Ottoman sultans performed before they led their men off to war as he braces for Sunday's parliamentary and presidential ballot.

A shout of "God is greatest" went up over Istanbul's old city as the sun set and news of Erdogan's arrival at the mosque filtered in.