Afghanistan must not sacrifice women's rights to secure peace with the Taliban as U.S.-led NATO troops pull out, the Oxfam aid group said Monday, revealing that not a single woman has taken part in talks with the militants since 2005.

The call came the day after about 50 people were killed and 60 others wounded when a suicide blast ripped through crowds at a volleyball game in the east of the country, underlining the challenges facing Afghanistan as national security forces take over from NATO troops.

General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim informed the members of the hostage crisis cell that Syrian authorities expressed readiness to cooperate with Lebanon to enter a prisoners swap deal with the Islamic State group and al-Qaida-affiliate al-Nusra Front that kidnapped Lebanese soldiers and policemen in August.

Egypt on Wednesday hailed a "new era" in Arab solidarity after Gulf states agreed to welcome Qatar back to the fold following a row over its support for Islamists.

Cairo said it offered its full support to the reconciliation move, which it described as a "huge step towards Arab solidarity."

Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Qatar has resumed his duties in Doha eight months after being withdrawn in an unprecedented diplomatic spat between Gulf states, media reports said on Tuesday.

Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Manama all withdrew their envoys to Doha in March, sparking one of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council's worst diplomatic rows since its creation in 1981.

The Lebanese authorities officially informed the Qatari-appointed mediator, Syrian Ahmed al-Khatib, that it had agreed on the jihadists' demand to exchange each captive with five Islamist inmates and 50 female prisoners.

According to al-Mustaqbal newspaper published on Tuesday, the decision came in light of last week's crisis cell meeting.

A spat over Qatar's alleged support for the Muslim Brotherhood that alienated other nations in the six-country Gulf Cooperation Council appears to have been resolved because of major regional challenges.

Possible concessions by Doha may also have paved the way in overcoming the unprecedented dispute.

The relatives of abducted soldiers and policemen briefly blocked on Monday several roads in the capital Beirut to demand the judiciary to lift sanctions against several Islamist inmates after jihadists threatened to start killing the captives.

The families blocked Beirut's Saifi road and near the port by setting tires on fire.

The captors of the Lebanese troops and policemen threatened Sunday to murder seven of them if Lebanese authorities enforce recent life imprisonment sentences against a number of Islamist inmates at the Roumieh prison.

“The wife of the abductee Khaled Moqbel Hassan received a phone call from the captors, who threatened to kill 7 servicemen if life imprisonment sentences against 5 Roumieh Islamist inmates were not revoked,” LBCI TV reported in the evening.

Gulf leaders agreed Sunday to return Saudi, Emirati, and Bahraini envoys to Qatar, ending eight months of tense relations with the gas-rich state over its support for the Muslim Brotherhood.

Earlier, leaders including the emirs of Kuwait and Qatar, the king of Bahrain and the UAE vice president arrived in Saudi Arabia for a previously unannounced summit aimed at resolving their differences.

Arab leaders in the Gulf could hold a special meeting to resolve differences within their ranks ahead of a scheduled annual summit in Qatar next month, newspapers said Wednesday.

According to Kuwaiti daily Al-Anbaa, consultations are underway to convene an informal meeting of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders before their December 9-10 summit in Doha.