Bahrain arrested six opposition activists Thursday as part of a crackdown on the Shiite pro-democracy movement that has sparked outrage in the Shiite world and criticism from Washington, an MP said.

Five hard-line Shiite activists and one Sunni were rounded up during the night, a parliamentarian from the Shiite opposition alliance told Agence France Presse.

Iran has launched a rocket into space carrying a test capsule designed to house an animal, the official IRNA news agency said Thursday, amid Western concerns over Tehran's scientific advances.

The Kavoshgar-4 rocket was launched without fanfare on March 15, the report said, citing the president's office.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi said his forces would fight a "decisive battle" Thursday, as Washington added its voice to efforts at the U.N. Security Council to impose a no-fly zone.

Gadhafi's latest comments came after his forces pressed rebels in the west on Wednesday and threatened their eastern bastion of Benghazi, despite calls from U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon for an immediate ceasefire.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's son on Wednesday told "this clown" French President Nicolas Sarkozy to "give us back our money" allegedly used to finance his 2007 election victory.

Seif al-Islam told Euronews that "we have all the details and are ready to reveal everything" as Gadhafi's forces closed in on rebels in the eastern city of Benghazi who France recognized as Libya's legitimate representatives.

Syrian security forces on Wednesday dispersed a demonstration by dozens of relatives of prisoners near the interior ministry, Agence France Presse correspondents said.

At least four protesters were arrested, the correspondents said, after the demonstrators gathered in a public square near the ministry in central Damascus.

An Iranian cargo plane en route to Syria was forced to land in Turkey's southeastern Diyarbakir airport for an inspection, security sources said Wednesday.

The plane landed following an order from the Turkish foreign ministry citing suspicion of military or nuclear related cargo on board, the sources said.

One Palestinian was killed and two people were wounded in an Israeli airstrike on Wednesday which targeted a Hamas training ground near Gaza City, medical officials said.

"One person has been killed and two injured in the airstrike," emergency services spokesman Adham Abu Selmiya said in a statement.

Several Arab nations are prepared to take part in a military operation in Libya to stop the advance of leader Moammar Gadhafi's forces, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe wrote on his blog on Wednesday.

"Only the threat of force can stop Gadhafi. It is by bombarding, with the few dozen planes and helicopters he really has, his opponents' positions that the Libyan dictator has turned the balance.

government forces backed by African Union troops killed at least 17 civilians in Mogadishu, medical sources said Wednesday.

Fighting between the Shebab insurgency and government troops erupted Tuesday in the south of the capital.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary took what she called a "thrilling" tour Wednesday of Cairo's Tahrir Square, epicenter of the 18 days of protests that overthrew longtime ally Hosni Mubarak.

The most senior U.S. official to visit Egypt since the veteran strongman's resignation last month, Clinton wandered round the huge central plaza in the morning rush hour accompanied by embassy officials.