Anti-Gadhafi fighters launched a fresh assault on Wednesday against the ousted strongman's remaining holdouts, now pinned into a small corner of his hometown Sirte, an Agence France Presse correspondent said.

The fighting was concentrated in the outer streets of Sirte's Number Two neighborhood, with both sides trading heavy gunfire and bombarding each other with mortar shells.

An official Syrian daily lashed out at the Arab League Wednesday, accusing it of serving the interests of the United States and Israel after the organization urged Damascus to open up to dialogue.

"It is no longer surprising to see the Arab League, which is supposed to be concerned with joint Arab action, turn into an instrument of injustice aimed at destabilizing Syria," said the daily Ath-Thawra.

Jordan's prime minister-designate Awn Khasawneh is in talks with the opposition and is expected to announce his reform-mandated government at the weekend, a senior official said on Wednesday.

"Khasawneh began his meetings with the opposition. He is expected to present the composition of his government to King Abdullah II on Saturday," the official told Agence France Presse, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Fifteen Palestinian prisoners released as part of a swap deal that saw Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit freed from five years of Hamas captivity arrived in the Qatari capital on Wednesday, an official said.

The freed prisoners landed in Doha on a specially chartered Qatari airplane at 3.00 am (00:00 GMT) and were greeted by Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Abdullah Mahmoud, the Palestinian diplomatic official told Agence France Presse.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Oman's Sultan Qaboos Wednesday to discuss mutual cooperation and political developments in the region, the official Omani news agency said.

The report said Oman's minister for foreign affairs, Oman's U.S. ambassador, and the U.S. ambassador to Oman attended the meeting but gave no further information about the discussions.

Activists said at least 15 civilians and seven soldiers were killed on Wednesday in the latest violence sweeping protest-hit Syria, including deadly clashes near the Lebanese border.

Syria's leading opposition grouping, the Syrian National Council, meanwhile, threatened to seek foreign intervention to stop the regime's deadly crackdown against pro-democracy protesters.

A Syrian rights group called on Tuesday for President Bashar al-Assad to be tried for "crimes against humanity" as troops reportedly mounted the fiercest raids in the Damascus region of their seven-month crackdown on dissent.

Activists also reported that security forces shot dead three people in the southern province of Daraa, cradle of the anti-regime protests that erupted in mid-March, and a fourth in the town of Qusayr on the Lebanese border.

Crowds of Palestinians, many of them overwhelmed and in tears, welcomed home hundreds of freed detainees in the West Bank and Gaza on Tuesday, under a landmark prisoner exchange deal with Israel.

The 477 prisoners, the first of two groups of Palestinian detainees being exchanged for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, arrived in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza late morning Tuesday.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday hailed the release of dual-nationality Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit as "a huge relief for France", voicing hope that stalled peace talks could now restart.

Sarkozy said that Shalit, captured by Gaza-based Palestinian militants in 2006 and released on Tuesday in exchange for Israel freeing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, would "soon" travel to France.

Turkey claims "very significant contributions" for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, Anatolia news agency quoted deputy prime minister Bulent Arinc as saying on Tuesday.

"In this exchange ... and in protecting the life of Shalit until today, Turkey made very significant contributions," Arinc said without elaborating.