Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's son on Wednesday told "this clown" French President Nicolas Sarkozy to "give us back our money" allegedly used to finance his 2007 election victory.

Seif al-Islam told Euronews that "we have all the details and are ready to reveal everything" as Gadhafi's forces closed in on rebels in the eastern city of Benghazi who France recognized as Libya's legitimate representatives.

Syrian security forces on Wednesday dispersed a demonstration by dozens of relatives of prisoners near the interior ministry, Agence France Presse correspondents said.

At least four protesters were arrested, the correspondents said, after the demonstrators gathered in a public square near the ministry in central Damascus.

An Iranian cargo plane en route to Syria was forced to land in Turkey's southeastern Diyarbakir airport for an inspection, security sources said Wednesday.

The plane landed following an order from the Turkish foreign ministry citing suspicion of military or nuclear related cargo on board, the sources said.

One Palestinian was killed and two people were wounded in an Israeli airstrike on Wednesday which targeted a Hamas training ground near Gaza City, medical officials said.

"One person has been killed and two injured in the airstrike," emergency services spokesman Adham Abu Selmiya said in a statement.

Several Arab nations are prepared to take part in a military operation in Libya to stop the advance of leader Moammar Gadhafi's forces, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe wrote on his blog on Wednesday.

"Only the threat of force can stop Gadhafi. It is by bombarding, with the few dozen planes and helicopters he really has, his opponents' positions that the Libyan dictator has turned the balance.

government forces backed by African Union troops killed at least 17 civilians in Mogadishu, medical sources said Wednesday.

Fighting between the Shebab insurgency and government troops erupted Tuesday in the south of the capital.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary took what she called a "thrilling" tour Wednesday of Cairo's Tahrir Square, epicenter of the 18 days of protests that overthrew longtime ally Hosni Mubarak.

The most senior U.S. official to visit Egypt since the veteran strongman's resignation last month, Clinton wandered round the huge central plaza in the morning rush hour accompanied by embassy officials.

Dozens of Syrians demonstrated for liberty and political reforms on Tuesday, witnesses and opposition websites said, as the foreign minister said political reforms will be implemented this year.

"God, Syria, liberty" and "Syrians, where are you?" chanted men and women inviting their compatriots to join the "peaceful march" which unfolded in a central souk of Old City Damascus, according to videos posted online.

Hundreds of Bahraini riot police firing buckshot and tear gas canisters drove pro-democracy demonstrators out of Manama's Pearl Square early Wednesday, an Agence France Presse correspondent reported.

Police arrived in tanks, troop transport vehicles and buses before moving in on the mainly Shiite Muslim demonstrators, who have been camped out in the square for a month in their campaign for political reform.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Cairo Tuesday seeking a partnership with Egypt in its transition to democracy, as she became the highest U.S. official to visit since Hosni Mubarak was toppled.

Clinton held evening talks with her Egyptian counterpart Nabil al-Arabi at the old foreign ministry building hard by Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the 18 days of mass protests that led to Mubarak's overthrow.