Syria's former prime minister, who defected last week, said Tuesday that the regime was collapsing and now only controlled about a third of the conflict-wracked country.

"The Syrian regime only controls 30 percent of Syria's territory. It has collapsed militarily, economically and morally," Riad Hijab told a news conference in the Jordanian capital.

A Syria-based reporter for Iran's Arabic language television network al-Alam has been abducted by rebels in the central Syrian city of Homs, the channel said on its website on Tuesday.

The journalist, named as Ahmed Sattouf, was taken by "armed terrorist groups" as he returned to his home in Homs, al-Alam said, using the term the allied regimes in Iran and Syria use to designate Syria's rebels.

Some 10 people were arrested after illegally entering the Syrian embassy in Stockholm during a protest against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Stockholm police said on Tuesday.

"Around 10 people were arrested for illegal entry and causing material damage," police spokesman Sven-Erik Olsson told AFP.

Hundreds of protesters demonstrated against Tunisia's ruling Islamist party during a general strike Tuesday in Sidi Bouzid, hub of the 2011 uprising, Agence France Presse reported.

Residents of Sidi Bouzid were among hundreds of members of the political opposition and trade unions, as well as civil society groups and employer organizations to march towards the court house on the outskirts of the town.

U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos arrived in Syria Tuesday to address the "deteriorating humanitarian situation" in the conflict-ravaged country and discuss ways of scaling-up relief efforts.

She will meet government officials and humanitarian partners including the local Red Crescent as well as families affected by the conflict, at the start of a three-day visit to both Syria and Lebanon, her office said in a statement.

Israel's prime minister on Tuesday named former internal security minister Avi Dichter as new home front defense minister, amid growing speculation about a potential Israeli attack on Iran.

"Today, I decided to appoint Knesset member Avi Dichter to serve as the minister for home front defense," Netanyahu said at a ceremony welcoming new immigrants to Israel.

A Gaza official says Egypt is opening its border crossing with the Hamas-ruled coastal territory for three days ahead of a major Muslim holiday this weekend.

Maher Abu Sabha of the Gaza border authority says the crossing will open to traffic in both directions later on Tuesday.

Iran on Tuesday said it is dismissing Israeli threats of an imminent attack, explaining that even some Israeli officials realized such a "stupid" act would provoke "very severe consequences."

"In our calculations, we aren't taking these claims very seriously because we see them as hollow and baseless," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters in a weekly briefing.

Fresh fighting erupted Tuesday in Syria's second city Aleppo, where the army shelled several rebel-held areas, a rights watchdog said, after a bloody day in which 160 people were killed nationwide.

"Fighting broke out between government forces and rebel fighters in the (southwestern) districts of Saif al-Dawla and Salaheddin alongside explosions in the area," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Foreign ministers preparing for a summit in Mecca of the Islamic Cooperation Organization on Monday recommended the expulsion of Syria from the 57-nation bloc, its secretary general said.

Asked by reporters whether the foreign ministers had decided to call for a suspension after their meeting in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah to prepare for Tuesday's summit, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said: "Yes."