Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi defiantly claimed in TV comments aired on the fourth day of U.N.-backed military strikes on Libya that his country is "ready for battle," while Western leaders Wednesday planned their next steps.

"We will win this battle," footage showed Gadhafi telling supporters at his Bab Al-Aziziyah compound in Tripoli that was the target of a coalition missile strike.

Syrian security forces fired on anti-regime protesters near a mosque on Wednesday, killing five and wounding scores, rights activists said as the government blamed a "gang" for the violence.

Hundreds of people had gathered at the Omari mosque, the focus of rallies in the flashpoint southern town of Daraa since Friday, to prevent police from storming it. Security had been beefed up after they set up tents to camp there.

The Turkish authorities have seized rifles on a Syria-bound Iranian plane, grounded since the weekend, and questioned its seven-man crew, police and judicial sources said Tuesday.

The cargo plane, a civilian Ilyushin, was ordered to land in Diyarbakir, in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, on Saturday night on suspicion that it had military or illicit cargo on board.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe called Tuesday for the creation of a special committee of foreign ministers from coalition countries to oversee operations in Libya.

"On the initiative of the President of the Republic, I have proposed to our British colleagues, who are in agreement, to set up a special body to oversee the operation," Juppe said, referring to French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh warned on Tuesday of civil war in case of any attempted coup in Yemen, as pressure mounted for the embattled leader to step down.

"Any attempt to reach power via a coup will lead to a civil war in the country," Saleh said in an address to military commanders that was broadcast on state television.

A U.S. F-15 jet crashed in Libya due to a technical fault late Monday while enforcing a no-fly zone and both its crew ejected safely, the U.S. Africa command said Tuesday.

"Two crew members ejected from their U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle when the aircraft experienced equipment malfunction over northeast Libya, March 21, 2011 at approximately 10:30 pm CET," the command, based in the western German city of Stuttgart, said in a statement.

A man set himself alight Tuesday in Tunisia's Sidi Bouzid, where a self-immolation last year unleashed protests that toppled the president, as the U.N. chief was due to visit, a medical source said.

The 33-year-old suffered third degree burns and was admitted to hospital in a severe condition, the official said. The reasons for his protest were not yet clear.

At least one Palestinian was injured on Tuesday when an Israeli airstrike hit a group of militants in eastern Gaza City, medics and witnesses said.

Witnesses reported seeing militants trying to fire rockets into southern Israel shortly before the strike, which was mounted by an Israeli drone and hit the eastern Shejaiya district that lies close to the border.

Former Israeli president Moshe Katsav was on Tuesday sentenced to seven years behind bars after being convicted on charges of rape and other sexual assault offences, Israeli media said.

The judges also handed the disgraced former president a two-year suspended sentence and ordered him to pay compensation of 100,000 shekels ($28,000/20,000 euros) to the main victim, known only as "Aleph.”

Coalition forces bombarded Libya for a third straight night Monday, targeting the air defenses and forces of Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi, stopping his advances and handing some momentum back to the rebels, who were on the verge of defeat just last week.

But the rebellion's more organized military units still were not ready, and the opposition disarray underscored U.S. warnings that a long stalemate could emerge.