Israeli environmental groups slammed a government move Sunday to scrap a tax on single-use tableware that aimed to reduce pollution from disposable plastic products.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's month-old government abolished the tax, arguing it had fuelled Israel's cost-of-living crisis and impacted especially ultra-Orthodox communities.

The decision was labelled "shameful" by environmental group Zalul which works to protect Israel's seas and rivers from threats including pollution with garbage and harmful microplastics.

Lebanon announced Sunday that Qatar had entered a consortium to explore for offshore gas in waters near Israel, following a historic border deal last year between the two foes.

The agreement green-lights Lebanon's exploration of its southern Qana, or Sidon, reservoir following the signing of the landmark accord last October demarcating its maritime borders with long-time enemy Israel.

Iran on Sunday condemned a "cowardly" night-time drone attack that targeted a defence ministry site, at a time of high tensions over its nuclear programme and Russia's war in Ukraine.

An anti-aircraft system destroyed one drone and two others exploded, the ministry said, adding that there were no casualties and only minor damage to the site in the central province of Isfahan.

A 5.9-magnitude earthquake hit northwestern Iran overnight, killing at least three people and injuring more than 800 in the region near the border with Turkey, state officials and media said Sunday.

Panicked residents fled their homes as buildings collapsed and rubble crushed cars, with hundreds seeking shelter from freezing winter conditions in evacuation centres as more than 20 aftershocks rattled the region.

Tunisia's main opposition coalition urged a united front against President Kais Saied after just 11.3 percent of Tunisians voted Sunday in a second-round poll for a toothless parliament in the politically divided nation.

"Almost 90 percent of Tunisian voters ignored this piece of theatre and refused to be involved in the process," Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, head of the National Salvation Front, told journalists.

"I call on political groups and civil society to join hands to work for change, in the form of Kais Saied's departure and early presidential elections."

Driver Tharaa Ali takes her seat at the helm of a high-speed train ferrying pilgrims to Mecca, a beneficiary of conservative Saudi Arabia's bid to employ its booming female workforce.

Saudi women only gained the right to drive in 2018, and until recently 25-year-old Ali's transportation experience was limited to cruising around her native Jeddah in the family sedan.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived Sunday in Egypt at the start of a Middle East trip on which he will look to notch down Israeli-Palestinian tensions after an eruption of violence.

Blinken, who will travel Monday and Tuesday to Jerusalem and Ramallah after his stop in Cairo, had long planned the visit to see Israel's new right-wing government, but the trip takes on a new urgency after some of the worst violence in years.

Families of the French citizens jailed in Iran held a rally Saturday to urge their release, warning that their loved ones were enduring a sometimes years-long "inhuman" psychological and physical ordeal.

Seven French citizens are currently held by Iran, according to the French foreign ministry. They are among two dozen foreign nationals campaigners say Iran has jailed in a strategy of hostage-taking to extract concessions from the West.

Iranian Olympic skier Atefeh Ahmadi has quit her home country and applied for asylum in Germany, a Persian-language media outlet outside Iran reported Saturday, publishing an emotional interview with the athlete.

Ahmadi, in her early 20s, was the only Iranian woman to qualify for last year's Beijing Winter Games.

"I left Iran to reach my goal, but my heart is with Iran. I love my Iran. I love my people," she told London-based Iran International.

"If I could, I would stand by the people so that we can reach freedom together," she said.

Rwandan authorities on Saturday said they had arrested six people for allegedly hurling insults at a woman who made history as one of the first female referees chosen for the men's World Cup.

Offensive slurs were repeatedly chanted at Salima Mukansanga by fans from Kiyovu Football Club as she refereed their 0-0 draw against Gasogi United on January 20 in Nyamata, south of Kigali.

Thierry Murangira, spokesman for the Rwanda Investigative Bureau (RIB), told AFP that three women and three men were arrested on Thursday.