Pope Francis on Wednesday encouraged attempts by the international community to organize a highly-anticipated Syria peace conference and called for greater humanitarian aid for refugees.

"In recent weeks the international community has reaffirmed its intention to promote concrete initiatives to bring about a fruitful dialogue designed to bring an end to the war," he said.

Israel has struck a deal to deport up to 2,000 illegal Eritrean immigrants to an unnamed African country in return for supplying it with military aid, the Yediot Aharonot newspaper said on Wednesday.

The paper said that, under an agreement in principle, the country will take 1,500-2,000 Eritreans currently in Israel in exchange for military, technological and agricultural aid.

U.S., Russian and U.N. diplomats gathered in Geneva Wednesday to plan a new international conference aimed at ending the conflict in Syria, as the regime scored a major victory by taking the strategic town of Qusayr.

Joining U.N. peace envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi at the table were Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman.

Iran congratulated the Syrian army and people on Wednesday for their victory over rebels after seizing the strategic town of Qusayr, Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said.

Tehran "congratulates the victory of the Syrian army and people over the 'takfiri' terrorists," Abdollahian said, using a term for Sunni militants who comprise the majority of the country's rebels.

Tens of thousands of Shiite Muslims pilgrims thronged a shrine in Baghdad on Wednesday for a ritual mourning ceremony amid a surge in violence that has sparked fears of a new all-out sectarian war.

Security forces effectively shut down much of Baghdad, closing off major roads and limiting what cars could be on the streets, to protect against attacks after nationwide violence rose last month to its highest level since 2008.

Britain said Wednesday that physiological samples from Syria had tested positive for sarin gas and there was growing information that the regime was using chemical weapons.

"The material from inside Syria tested positive for sarin," a government spokesman said.

Israel's deputy foreign minister on Wednesday accused Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas of seeking "unilateral" moves to seek statehood at the expense of direct peace talks.

Abbas "is in no hurry to restart negotiations, despite the pressures on him, because he thinks that the unilateral path will get him further and that way he won't have to pay a political price," Zeev Elkin said on public radio.

Two civilians and two officers have been killed in an all-out offensive by Yemeni forces on Wednesday against al-Qaida groups that recently seized villages in the southeastern province of Hadramawt, officials said.

Troops backed by tanks and helicopters launched a dawn operation in Ghayl Bawazir, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) east of the port city of Mukalla, a security official said.

The army vowed on Wednesday to trounce rebel fighters across Syria hours after recapturing Qusayr following a more than two-week assault on the strategic town on the border with Lebanon.

"After successive advances in the war against organised terrorists, our armed forces say they will not hesitate to crush the armed men wherever they are and in every corner of Syria," it said in a statement.

Washington on Tuesday downplayed hopes that U.S. and Russian officials will set a date for a highly-anticipated Syria peace conference at new talks in Geneva, warning there were still challenges ahead.

Undersecretary Wendy Sherman and acting Assistant Secretary Beth Jones flew to the Swiss city for Wednesday's talks with their Moscow counterparts and U.N. envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi as they seek to launch peace negotiations.