A regime warplane killed 16 people, half of them children, in a strike on the city of Manbij in the northern province of Aleppo on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The strike came as the watchdog reported seven people killed in air raids on the Aleppo city of al-Bab, and that similar strikes hit Aazaz, only seven kilometers (four miles) south of neighboring Turkey, where a Patriot missile battery went operational on Saturday.

Egypt's national defense council headed by President Mohamed Morsi on Saturday appealed for calm and called for a national dialogue as deadly clashes raged.

In a statement read out on state television by Information Minister Salah Abdel Maqsud, the council called for dialogue with "independent national figures" to settle political differences and agree on a mechanism for an upcoming parliamentary election.

Russia, one of the Syrian regime's last supporters, continues to supply weapons to Damascus under contracts signed long ago, Syria's deputy prime minister said on Saturday.

"Syria has always received and today is still receiving (weapons from Russia). We have agreements signed before the conflict and Russia is fulfilling its obligations," Qadri Jamil told Moscow Echo radio.

Around 200 Palestinians demonstrating in solidarity with prisoners held by Israel hurled stones at troops in the West Bank on Saturday and soldiers responded with tear gas, Palestinian security officials and the Israeli military said.

Palestinians said the confrontation erupted when protesters tried to set up tents adjacent to Israel's West Bank security fence at Anin village, near the northern town of Jenin.

The humanitarian group Medecins Sans Frontieres appealed Saturday for better access to those wounded in the conflict in Syria, notably in the second city of Aleppo.

"Growing insecurity around Aleppo undermines efforts to provide essential medical care," said MSF, or Doctors Without Borders.

Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali said on Saturday that lengthy consultations on a Tunisian government reshuffle had failed and that he will choose a new line-up unless a compromise is found soon.

"We did not agree on a government reshuffle but the negotiations were positive," said Jebali, whose Islamist Ennahda party heads a coalition government with the secular parties Ettakatol and Congress for the Republic.

A suicide bomber who killed 42 people at a funeral in a Shiite mosque this week had escaped from prison in an al-Qaida jail break in September, a provincial politician claimed on Saturday.

The attacker, who struck on Wednesday in Tuz Khurmatu, north of Baghdad, also wounded 75 people in the deadliest single attack in Iraq since July 23.

The first of six batteries of Patriot missiles deployed in Turkey to protect against a spillover of the conflict in neighboring Syria became operational on Saturday, NATO said.

The battery, provided by The Netherlands, "will help to protect the (southern) city and people of Adana against missile threats," it said in a statement.

Egypt's opposition threatened on Saturday to boycott upcoming parliamentary polls if President Mohamed Morsi does not find a "comprehensive solution" to the crisis gripping the country.

The National Salvation Front (NSF), the main coalition of parties and movements opposing the ruling Islamists, called for the creation of a "national salvation" government, saying that otherwise it will "not participate in the next parliamentary elections."

Iraq's parliament adopted a measure on Saturday that would bar Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki from a third term, a move his allies quickly dismissed as unconstitutional.

A total of 170 MPs of 242 present backed the move to limit the president, premier and parliament speaker to two terms, an official said, meaning Maliki could not retain his post after national elections next year.