Flames lit up downtown Cairo, where massive clashes raged Sunday, drawing Christians angry over a recent church attack, Muslims and Egyptian security forces. At least 24 people were killed and more than 200 injured in the worst sectarian violence since the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in February.

The rioting lasted late into the night, bringing out a deployment of more than 1,000 security forces and armored vehicles to defend the state television building along the Nile, where the trouble began. The military clamped a curfew on the area until 7 a.m.

Prime Minister Essam Sharaf appealed to Egypt's Muslims and Christians not to give in to sectarian strife after almost 20 people died in clashes on Sunday between Coptic Christians and security forces.

"What is taking place are not clashes between Muslims and Christians but attempts to provoke chaos and dissent," he said on his Facebook page.

Syria threatened retaliation Sunday if other states recognize a newly formed opposition bloc as President Bashar al-Assad renewed a pledge of reforms and security forces shot dead at least 11 people.

Forces of Libya's new rulers said they took control on Sunday of the airport in Bani Walid, one of the last two bastions of fighters loyal to deposed despot Moammar Gadhafi.

"Our forces have taken control of the airport of Bani Walid," located in the desert town's southwest, Yunes Mussa, commander of the National Transitional Council forces in the region, told Agence France Presse.

Around 300 Tunisian Salafists on Sunday attacked the headquarters of a private TV station that aired a French-Iranian film and organized a debate on religious extremism, the channel said.

"Three hundred people attacked our offices and tried to set fire to them," Nessma chairman Nebil Karoui told AFP, explaining that death threats had been sent after Friday night's showing of "Persepolis", an animation film on Iran's Islamic revolution.

Syrian President Bashar Assad said he is focused on "political reform" and on tackling "armed groups," the official SANA news agency reported on Sunday.

"Syria is taking steps focused on two main fronts -- political reform and the dismantling of armed groups," who seek to destabilize the country, Assad told the visiting foreign ministers of Cuba and Venezuela.

Jewish settlers clashed with Palestinian farmers on Sunday as they tried to pick olives from land owned by the family of two men convicted of killing a young settler family in March.

At least three Palestinians were injured when dozens of settlers armed with sticks and stones attacked the group of about 50 workers as they tried to harvest the olives from land which belongs to the Awwad family from the nearby village of Awarta, an Agence France Presse correspondent reported.

Israeli police deployed reinforcements around Muslim and Christian sites in Jaffa on Sunday after graves in the mixed port town were found to be desecrated, a police spokeswoman said.

"Police reinforcements have been deployed around the Muslim and Christian religious sites which are considered to be sensitive," spokeswoman Luba Samri said.

Syria will retaliate against any country that recognizes the opposition National Council, Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said on Sunday.

"We will take significant measures against any country that recognizes this illegitimate council," Muallem told a news conference, as the newly formed opposition group lobbied for support in Cairo.

Forces of Libya's new regime on Sunday tightened their stranglehold on Moammar Gadhafi's hometown Sirte, seizing its university and edging closer to his diehards holed up in a conference center.

Fighting has been raging around Sirte's university and the nearby Ouagadougou conference center since the National Transitional Council forces launched on Friday what they are calling their final assault on the coastal city.