Iraqi security forces were on high alert in Baghdad on Monday as tensions soared after rivals of Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr, whose supporters are occupying the parliament, called for counter-demonstrations.

A political standoff 10 months after Iraqis went to the polls pits Sadr -- a populist with a devoted following of millions among the country's majority Shiite population -- against the powerful pro-Iran Coordination Framework, another Shiite alliance.

Thirty aid agencies working in war-torn Yemen on Monday called on rival forces to extend a four-month long truce helping millions of struggling civilians, one day before it expires.

Yemen's conflict, pitting the Saudi-backed government against Iran-backed Huthi rebels, has killed hundreds of thousands directly or indirectly and pushed the country to the brink of famine.

A UN-brokered truce that took effect in early April has provided a rare respite from violence for much of the country and alleviated some of the suffering.

Iran's intelligence ministry said Monday it has arrested members of the Bahai minority suspected of spying for a centre located in Israel and of working illegally to spread their religion.

Intelligence agents "arrested a number of members of the central core of the Bahai spy party," who were "directly linked to the Zionist centre known as Bait al-Adl", the ministry said on its website, without specifying how many.

Iran said Monday it remains "optimistic" about a possible revival of the 2015 nuclear deal after the European Union tabled a proposal aiming for a compromise in the talks stalled since March.

"We remain optimistic that the negotiation process will lead us to a logical and reasonable outcome," foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said at his weekly news conference.

A US envoy on Monday expressed optimism that Lebanon and Israel could move towards a maritime border deal to settle competing claims over offshore gas fields.

The dispute escalated in early June after Israel moved a production vessel near the Karish offshore field, which is partly claimed by neighbour Lebanon.

This prompted Beirut to call for the resumption of US-mediated negotiations on the demarcation dispute.

Executions on a scale not seen for years. Mass arrests of regime critics including top film-makers. Trials of foreign nationals denounced as a sham by their families.

Activists argue Iran is in the throes of an intensified crackdown affecting all sectors of society from trade union activists, to campaigners against the enforced wearing of the headscarf for women, to religious minorities.

The repression comes one year into the rule of President Ebrahim Raisi, the ultra-conservative former judiciary chief who in August 2021 took over from the more moderate Hassan Rouhani.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has suggested that his country, Africa's largest natural gas exporter, could join the BRICS economic group that includes Russia and China.

Tebboune's comment comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin -- whose country is hit with Western sanctions over its Ukraine invasion -- in June called on BRICS leaders to move towards "formation of a truly multipolar system of inter-government relations".

The BRICS group also includes the major emerging economies of Brazil, India and South Africa.

In the basement of the National Library of Tunis, conservator Hasna Gabsi combs through shelves of newspapers dating back to the mid-19th century to select the latest to digitise.

She picks out a yellowed copy of an Arabic-language newspaper printed in the 1880s, then walks to the sections containing French, Italian, Maltese and Spanish-language newspapers published in Tunisia.

"The archive is a witness to an important, historical culture," Gabsi said under the flickering neon lights.

The OPEC+ group of oil exporters meets Wednesday to discuss another output increase, weeks after US President Joe Biden sought to persuade Saudi Arabia to boost production during a controversial visit to the country.

The White House has been pressing the oil cartel to step up production to tame prices that have surged since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.

But the group, which is led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, has stuck to modest increases so far.

Khaled Bahlawan hammers nails into a traditional wooden boat he built by hand, toiling under the scorching sun on Syria's Mediterranean coast to preserve a disappearing ancient skill.

"We are the last family that makes wooden ships and boats in Syria," said the 39-year-old on the shores of Arwad island, near the city of Tartus.

"This is the legacy of our ancestors... We are fighting to preserve it every day".