Al-Qaeda's former Syria affiliate is gaining ground from rival rebels in Syria's Turkish-held north, on the heels of some of the deadliest inter-rebel fighting in the region in years.

Here is what we know of the deadly flareup, which is altering the balance of power in parts of Syria that still evade government control after more than a decade of war.

- Who is involved? -

Syrian rebel groups opposed to President Bashar al-Assad's government are mostly confined to the northwestern region of Idlib and northern parts of Aleppo province, near the border with Turkey.

Alarm grew on Tuesday over the wellbeing of Iranian sports climber Elnaz Rekabi after she competed at an event in South Korea without a hijab in what some saw as a gesture of solidarity with the women-led protests at home.

Rekabi, 33, in her first comment since the event at the Asian Championships in Seoul on Sunday, apologised on Instagram for the "concerns" caused and insisted her bare-headed appearance had been "unintentional".

More than a week of inter-rebel fighting in Syria's Turkish-held north has killed 58 people, mostly combatants -- battles that have allowed Al-Qaeda-linked fighters to gain ground, a war monitor said Tuesday.

The clashes since October 8 have been among the deadliest in years, killing 48 rebel fighters and 10 civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Fighting has taken place in a volatile area near the Turkish border.

Argentina on Monday called on Qatar to arrest a visiting Iranian vice president over his alleged responsibility for the deadly 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish center.

Iran's vice president for economic affairs, Mohsen Rezai, is wanted by Argentinian special prosecutors for alleged participation in the planning of the July 18, 1994 bomb attack against the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association, or AMIA, which killed 85 people and wounded 300.

Australia said it would no longer recognise west Jerusalem as Israel's capital Tuesday, a policy reversal that prompted a curt rebuke from the Jewish state but was cheered by Palestinians.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the city's status should be decided by Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, unwinding a contentious decision by the previous conservative government.

In 2018, Australia's then-prime minister Scott Morrison followed US president Donald Trump's lead in unilaterally recognising west Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.

A Canadian man was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the United States on Monday for providing assistance to the Islamic State group in Syria.

Abdullahi Ahmed Abdullahi, 37, of Edmonton, Alberta, was extradited from Canada to San Diego in 2019, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Abdullahi pleaded guilty in a federal court in San Diego to all charges in December 2021, it said.

He was accused of aiding six North American nationals to travel to Syria, where they joined IS.

Eight inmates died in a fire that raged in Iran's Evin prison, the judiciary said Monday, doubling the official toll from a blaze that has further stoked tensions one month into protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.

Authorities blamed the fire in the Tehran jail late Saturday on "riots and clashes" among prisoners, but human rights groups said they doubted the official version of events and feared the real toll could be higher.

The death toll from ethnic clashes sparked by "land issues" in the latest unrest in Sudan's south has climbed to 13, the United Nations said Monday, warning the situation remained "tense".

Fighting broke out Thursday between members of the Hausa people and rival groups, most notably the al-Hamaj, in the Wad al-Mahi village east of the city of Roseires in the southern Blue Nile state.

Clashes were sparked by "a dispute over land issues", the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Monday.

Iraq's newly-elected President Abdul Latif Rashid pledged Monday on taking office to throw his weight behind efforts to rapidly form a strong new government.

"The Iraqi people expect a new government to be formed rapidly, and that it be efficient and united," Rashid said on his inauguration at the presidential palace in Baghdad.

Rashid, 78, elected last Thursday to the largely ceremonial post reserved for Iraq's Kurdish minority, swiftly named Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as prime minister-designate.

Saudi Arabia has rejected US accusations of aligning itself with Russia amid the Ukraine war by making oil production cuts to drive up crude prices, insisting it was purely a business decision.

"We are astonished by the accusations that the kingdom is standing with Russia in its war with Ukraine," the Saudi defence minister, Prince Khaled bin Salman, tweeted late Sunday.

The Saudi-led OPEC+ cartel -- which includes Russia -- has angered Washington by deciding to cut production by two million barrels per day from November, adding further pressure on soaring crude prices.