U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has hailed Algeria's elections, despite widespread suspicion over results that saw the regime tighten its grip on power, bucking the Arab Spring trend of change.

Official results from Thursday's legislative election showed a higher-than-expected turnout of 42 percent, with the party that has ruled Algeria since independence 50 years ago winning comfortably and Islamists losing ground.

Gulf leaders at a meeting in Riyadh on Monday will discuss a Saudi proposal to develop their six-nation council into a union, likely to start with the kingdom and unrest-hit Bahrain, officials said.

The Gulf Cooperation Council leaders "will discuss a form of union between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain," said a top Gulf official, requesting anonymity.

Bahraini security forces fires tear gas and birdshot on Saturday to disperse protests staged in Shiite villages in solidarity with jailed opposition activists, witnesses said.

Dozens took to the streets in several villages following calls by the February 14 Coalition -- a youth group that works mainly on cyber social networks with no public leaders.

A U.S. drone killed five suspected members of al-Qaida in two rocket attacks on vehicles transporting the jihadists near Marib in eastern Yemen, a tribal chief said.

"A drone fired two rockets at two vehicles, killing five al-Qaida members," near the village of al-Hosoon, outside the city of Marib, 170 kilometers east of the capital Sanaa, he said.

Hamas foreign minister Mohammed Awad was in Tehran on Saturday for meetings with senior officials including Iran's top diplomat and a security chief, Iranian media reported.

During his visit, which had been unannounced, Awad met with Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi and Saeed Jalili, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, the reports said.

Turkey's ambassador to Syria said on Saturday the people of that country were being "fed with fears" about their fate should Bashar Assad's regime fall.

Speaking at the Lennart Meri Conference in the Estonian capital Tallinn, ambassador Omer Onhon decried conditions for the majority of Syrians, who he said have been led to believe the only alternative to Assad's authoritarian regime is civil war and religious radicalization.

Yemeni troops launched an all-out offensive on Saturday to retake the southern city of Zinjibar, held for a year by al-Qaida gunmen, in fighting that killed 12 people, military and local sources said.

The "wide offensive" began from three sides and is supported by the air force and the navy," said a military official, adding that Defense Minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed is supervising the operation from nearby.

Egypt's administrative court on Saturday ruled that this month's presidential election should be held on time, overturning a lower court's ruling, judicial sources said.

A provincial administrative court had ordered the suspension of the election on Wednesday, saying the electoral commission chief had overstepped his mandate by calling for the May 23 and 24 vote.

Gulf leaders will discuss a proposal for a closer political union among them that could begin with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, the Bahraini information minister said on Saturday.

"The idea of a Gulf union will be on the agenda of the summit in Riyadh" on Monday, said Samira Rajab.

Algeria's polls were a step towards reform, European Union observers said Saturday, listing a number of shortcomings in the process but stopping short of challenging its overall credibility.

Official results for Thursday's legislative election yielded a higher than expected turnout of 42 percent and tightened the ruling party's grip on power, bucking the Arab Spring of regime change and Islamist breakthroughs.