U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Sunday the Arab spring has left Israel "increasingly isolated" in the Middle East and that its military might could not make up for a weakened diplomatic position.

Speaking to reporters aboard his plane bound for Israel as part of a Middle East tour, Panetta said it was crucial for Israel to shore up its relations with Egypt and other countries in the region that had proved valuable partners in the past.

The Arab League appealed to member states Sunday to bolster financial help to the Palestinian territories after U.S. lawmakers froze about $200 million in aid in response to Palestinians' U.N. statehood bid.

"It is necessary for the member countries of the League to increase their financial aid to the Palestinian people so they can face this threat," said Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi after talks in Cairo with chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat.

Ousted president Hosni Mubarak never told the army to open fire on demonstrators calling for an end to his rule, Egypt's military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi said on Sunday.

"The armed forces fight for Egypt and not for just anyone, whoever it may be," he said in a speech at a ceremony south of the capital.

Six hundred Tunisian illegal immigrants who arrived in Italy by boat have been deported in a week, the interior ministry announced Sunday.

They were put on several flights from Palermo, Sicily, under an agreement signed on April 5 between Tunis and Rome arranging the systematic deportation of Tunisians arriving illegally.

The trial opened in Egypt on Sunday of a Jordanian and Israeli charged with spying for the Jewish state's intelligence services and was swiftly adjourned to next week, an Agence France Presse reporter said.

The Israeli defendant was being tried in absentia.

The Palestinians on Sunday dismissed Israel's welcome of a Quartet call for the resumption of peace talks, saying the peace proposal requires Israel to halt settlement construction.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat, speaking to Agence France Presse from Cairo, said a statement issued by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office was "an exercise in deceiving the international community."

Syrian opposition movements meeting in Turkey said in a statement on Sunday they had formed a common front uniting all groups that oppose the regime of President Bashar Assad.

"The Syrian Council is open to all Syrians. It is an independent group personifying the sovereignty of the Syrian people in their struggle for liberty," Paris-based Burhan Ghalioun told reporters.

Israel on Sunday welcomed a call from the international Quartet for peace talks to resume, saying it had some "concerns" but urging the Palestinians to begin negotiations "without delay."

"Israel welcomes the Quartet's call for direct negotiations between the parties without preconditions, as called for by both (U.S.) President (Barack) Obama and Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu," a statement from the premier's office said.

U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford should stop meddling in Syrian affairs if he wants to avoid more 'rotten eggs' attacks in the future, a state-run Syrian newspaper warned on Sunday.

The Al Baath newspaper, a mouthpiece of the Syrian regime, accused Ford of supporting armed anti-government groups in Syria and said his meddling will not be tolerated.

Two roadside bombs in a former al-Qaida stronghold north of Baghdad on Sunday killed six people, including four anti-Qaida militiamen, a police officer and a doctor said.

Two Sahwa, or Awakening Council, fighters were initially killed when their car was struck by a roadside bomb at around 9:30 am (0630 GMT) in the Al-Nibaie area, north of the town of Mashaada, 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the capital, police First Lieutenant Uday Sarhan said.