NATO vowed Wednesday to press its bombing campaign in Libya despite a call from member state Italy for a halt to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid as the civilian death toll mounts.

Alliance chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said more civilians would die if operations were not maintained under a U.N. mandate to protect Libyans from the exactions of the government of veteran leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Israeli troops on Wednesday began taking down barbed wire around the West Bank village of Bilin, focus of years of protests against Israel's controversial separation barrier, Agence France Presse reported.

Army bulldozers were seen razing a watchtower on a hill overlooking the village but the military declined to comment on the significance of the operation.

The European Union on Wednesday agreed to extend the list of sanctions against Syria by adding seven people, including three Iranians, and four companies.

The three Iranians were accused of providing military equipment to support Syria's brutal crackdown on protests, diplomats told Agence France Presse on Wednesday.

A senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss the cases of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and a man suspected of spying for the Jewish state, an airport official said.

Yitzhak Molho was to meet Egyptian officials "to discuss the Shalit issue, the recent spy case and other issues such as the peace process and Egyptian gas exports to Israel," the official told Agence France Presse.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem on Wednesday rejected foreign meddling in his country's internal affairs while stressing Damascus is keen to maintain good ties with longtime ally Turkey.

"We are keen on maintaining good relations with Turkey with which we share a common border of 850 kilometers," Muallem told a press conference in Damascus.

More than 60 al-Qaida prisoners escaped from a south Yemen jail on Wednesday after they clashed with guards, killing one and wounding two others, security and medical officials told Agence France Presse.

The prisoners fled the central jail in al-Mukalla, capital of the Hadramawt province, into the nearby mountains after they overpowered the guards and seized some of their arms, a security official said.

Iran's parliament on Wednesday scrapped plans to impeach Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi after he dismissed a controversial deputy who is close to the president's under-fire chief of staff, reports said.

A group of MPs on Tuesday had launched an impeachment motion against Salehi after he appointed Mohammad Sharif Malekzadeh as a deputy foreign minister in charge of administrative affairs.

A special Bahraini court on Wednesday sentenced eight Shiite opposition activists to life in prison for "plotting to overthrow" the kingdom's Sunni regime, state news agency BNA reported.

The National Safety Court of first instance also jailed 13 others for terms ranging from two to 15 years on similar charges, BNA added.

Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal held talks with Turkish officials on efforts to achieve Palestinian unity during a two-day visit to Istanbul ending later Wednesday, diplomats said.

Meshaal's talks in Turkey's largest city coincided with a four-day trip to the capital Ankara by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who heads Fatah, at a time when Palestinian officials have reported disagreements between the two groups over the formation of a unity government.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini called on Wednesday for an immediate halt to hostilities in Libya to allow humanitarian aid to reach the population in the strife-torn country.

Frattini called for "an immediate humanitarian suspension of hostilities" in Libya during a speech to the lower house of parliament.