The U.N.'s chief humanitarian coordinators for Syria, on a Gulf tour to seek aid, have warned that already scarce resources for the growing number of displaced in the war-torn country are quickly drying up.

The U.N.'s regional refugee coordinator, Panos Mumtzis, told AFP in Dubai that the aid effort was hit by a "significant funding shortfall," adding that financial support is needed for shelter, winter preparation, health and water.

Russia is the only player able to halt Iran's nuclear program without the use of force or crippling sanctions, Israel's parliamentary speaker told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday.

Speaking on a visit to Moscow, Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin told his host that Russia's close ties with Iran gave it the "opportunity and the obligation" to quash Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

King Abdullah II on Thursday swore in a 21-strong cabinet a day after he named pro-reform politician Abdullah Nsur to form a government tasked with preparing for legislative polls.

The swearing in ceremony comes a week after the king dissolved parliament and called early elections, which he says he wants to be held by the end of the year although no date has been set for the polls.

Taking their cue from the Arab Spring, but fearing a backlash from Islamists the uprisings brought to power, Arab cyber activists have embarked on a daring campaign urging women fight for equality.

"The uprising of women in the Arab World" is the title of the Facebook page where the campaign was launched on October 1 to highlight "discrimination" against women in the Arab world.

Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Thursday no arms were being smuggled across his country's 600-kilometer (375-mile) border into conflict-torn Syria.

"We stress that no weapons go to Syria via Iraq," he told reporters in Prague.

The Saudi interior ministry warned on Thursday that it would deal "firmly" with demonstrations calling for the release of prisoners.

"Some people are exploiting the issue of people arrested or convicted for crimes of the deviant minority by organizing small gatherings to call for their release," it said, using the official term for al-Qaida militants.

Young Egyptians wishing to keep their revolution alive have come to Cyprus to share their experiences with activists from 28 European and Middle Eastern countries attending a civil society forum.

The activists, all in their 20s, in February last year witnessed the popular uprising sparked by fellow countrymen their age which in under three weeks ended the 30-year reign of president Hosni Mubarak.

Damascus accused Ankara on Thursday of "hostile" behavior after a Syrian Air plane was intercepted by Turkish authorities en route from Moscow to Damascus and forced to land in Ankara.

The interception of the plane on Wednesday was "hostile and reprehensible behavior" and was "another sign of the hostile policies of the Erdogan government, which harbors (rebels) and bombs Syrian territory," the foreign ministry said, referring to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Eight people were killed on Thursday in an attack by "armed terrorists" on a bus transporting Syrian workers at the Lebanon border, Syrian state television said.

The channel said another eight people were wounded in the attack.

Plans are underway to provide shelter on two Greek islands for 20,000 Syrian refugees, Greece's public order ministry said on Thursday.

The Conservative-led government of Antonis Samaras "foresees providing hospitality to 20,000 refugees from Syria who will be accommodated in special facilities on the island of Crete and Rhodes," the ministry said in a statement.