Libyan fighters raised the new government's flag over the oasis of Bani Walid Monday and hoped for the swift fall of the other remaining redoubt of Moammar Gadhafi loyalists, Sirte, as relatives of his henchmen fled.

Cries of Allahu Akhbar (God is Greatest) and bursts of celebratory machinegun fire filled the desert air over the centre of Bani Walid, as the new regime troops feted their capture of the loyalist bastion after a six-week siege.

Iran plans to produce the first of its own enriched nuclear fuel within five months, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Monday, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"We hope to produce the first domestic-made nuclear fuel plate within the next four to five months," Salehi, former head of Iran's atomic energy organization, was quoted as saying.

Tunisia, which launched the "Arab Spring" when its outraged citizens ousted a seemingly entrenched dictator in January, again takes the lead with a historic vote Sunday for the drafters of a new constitution.

"It is a historic turning point. Tunisians do not have the right to make mistakes, the world is watching this first test on the road to democracy," a European diplomat said, amid an election campaign dotted with violent outbursts, some by Islamists.

King Abdullah II on Monday named International Court of Justice judge Awn Khasawneh as prime minister, replacing Maarouf al-Bakhit, whose government has been accused of failing to meet growing demands for reforms, a government official said.

"Khasawneh is currently meeting with the king, who entrusted him to form the new government," said the official who requested anonymity.

Syrian soldiers fought gunmen suspected to be army defectors in the flashpoint central province of Homs on Monday in clashes that left five troops dead, a human rights group said.

"Five soldiers were killed and others wounded as a result of clashes pitting the army and security forces against gunmen believed to be defectors at a checkpoint near the town of Qurayn in Homs province," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Agence France Presse.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Monday urged Syrian President Bashar Assad to immediately stop the killings of civilians and to accept an international probe on human rights violations.

"There are continuous killings of civilian people. These killings must stop immediately," said the U.N. chief in Bern.

Families of former Libyan regime officials streamed out of Sirte on Monday, including the mother and brother of Moammar Gadhafi's spokesman Moussa Ibrahim, an NTC field commander said.

"These are families of regime officials; there is Moussa Ibrahim's mother and brother among them," said Wessam bin Hamaidi gesturing at seven cars loaded with men, women and children fleeing a disputed pocket of Gadhafi's hometown.

France is in the final stage of negotiations with the United Arab Emirates for the sale of Rafale fighter jets, Defense Minister Gerard Longuet said on Monday.

"We are in the final negotiation," Longuet said on LCI television of talks on the UAE acquiring the French-made fighters, adding that the chances were "very strong" that a contract would be signed.

A group of 40 Palestinian detainees being exiled overseas under a deal to free a captured Israeli soldier will be sent to Turkey, Syria and Qatar, Hamas said on Monday.

"At the moment, the countries that will accept prisoners are Turkey, Qatar and Syria," a Hamas official in Gaza told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.

Saudi King Abdullah was hospitalized for a new back surgery in Riyadh, following two similar operations last year in the United States, the SPA news agency early Monday.

The 87-year-old was operated in November for a debilitating herniated disc complicated by a hematoma that put pressure on his spine and underwent another surgery to repair several vertebrae.