Shelling by Syrian government forces trying to win back a border post seized by rebels left two Turkish civilians wounded Thursday, a Turkish official told AFP.

They were injured by four fragments of a shell that exploded just on the Syrian side of the border, the official said on condition of anonymity, adding that another unexploded shell was found and the area sealed off while it was detonated.

Israel has dismissed plans to hold a summit on creating a Middle East free of nuclear weapons, saying it was unrealistic to push such an idea given the "current volatile and hostile" climate in the region.

"Any initiative to promote the 2012 conference on the Middle East.. in complete disregard to the present sombre regional realities, is futile," Shaul Horev, head of Israel's Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) said on Wednesday.

At least 30 civilians were killed and dozens more wounded Thursday in an explosion at a petrol station in northeastern Syria, a human rights group said, with activists saying it was an air strike.

"At least 30 people were killed and 83 were injured, although unconfirmed sources say the number of dead was actually more than 50," the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP.

The Palestinian leadership will launch a campaign to upgrade their status at the United Nations this month, seeking support from at least 150 nations, an official said Thursday.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the campaign to upgrade their status from observer entity to that of a non-member observer state would start immediately after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the General Assembly on September 27.

U.S. Secretary of State William Burns flew to Libya on Thursday amid tight security for a ceremony to honor ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans who were killed in Benghazi last week.

Burns met Foreign Minister Ashur Ben Khayal on arrival and was also expected to meet Prime Minister Mustafa Abu Shagur and Mohammed al-Megaryef, head of the national assembly.

Diplomats from over 60 nations and the Arab League met in The Hague on Thursday to toughen and improve coordination of sanctions against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

"We need vigorous implementation," Netherlands Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal told the opening of the "Friends of Syria" sanctions working group.

Egypt's influential Muslim Brotherhood demanded Thursday that France act against cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammed in the same way as against the topless pictures of Prince William's wife Catherine.

Its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), called for "firm and rapid measures against the (French) magazine" Charlie Hebdo which printed cartoons mocking the prophet on Wednesday.

More than 29,000 people have been killed in violence in Syria since an anti-government uprising broke out in March last year meeting with a bloody crackdown, a human rights group said on Thursday.

"As of Wednesday (September 19), at least 20,755 civilians, 1,148 defectors and 7,095 soldiers had been killed across Syria since the outbreak of the revolt," Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence France Presse.

The Middle East is going through "dangerous" times as some governments spend large amounts of money on stirring sectarian strife, Iraq's prime minister said on Thursday.

"Today, the region lives (under) a dangerous wave of challenges, the real root of which is sectarianism," Nouri al-Maliki said in a speech in the shrine city of Najaf, adding that large amounts of money are being spent on "sectarian goals."

Egypt and Jordan could annul their peace treaties with Israel if it carries out a preemptive strike against Iran, U.S. officials have warned the Jewish state, an Israeli newspaper reported Thursday.

Quoting a high-level Israeli official, Yediot Aharonot said Washington had warned the Jewish state that Arab leaders would not be able to control an angry public backlash if Israel were to mount an attack on Iran.