Yemen's army shelled al-Qaida hideouts in the southern city of Zinjibar, one of the jihadists' major strongholds, killing six militants, a local official told Agence France Presse on Monday.

The official, speaking from the nearby town of Jaar where wounded militants and dead bodies from Zinjibar are usually taken, said that "a Somali group leader named Abu Bilal" was among those killed in the late Sunday assault.

Russia said on Monday that the "Friends of Syria" meeting in Istanbul at the weekend contradicted the objective of reaching a peaceful settlement that could end more than a year of bloodshed.

"The promises and intentions to deliver direct military and logistical support to the armed... opposition that were voiced in Istanbul unquestionably contradict the goals of a peaceful settlement to the civil conflict in Syria," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

A blast ripped through central Damascus near a hotel and a police station on Monday, injuring at least four people and damaging shops, official Syrian television al-Ikhbariya and witnesses said.

"A bomb exploded loudly near the Hotel Kinda" in busy Marja neighborhood in the center of the capital, the television said.

Jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti has been placed in solitary confinement for a week after calling for the Palestinians to end all cooperation with Israel, the prisons authority said.

"Marwan Barghouti was placed in solitary confinement on Sunday, for a period of a week," spokeswoman Sivan Weizman told Agence France Presse, saying he would not be able to receive visits, and that he would be barred from the prison cafeteria for a month.

At least 11 people were killed Monday as Syrian forces pressed their crackdown on dissent, pounding rebel bastions mainly in the restive north which also left many hurt, monitors said.

"Two civilians and five rebels were killed by gunfire and shrapnel in an offensive launched this morning in the village of Hass," Idlib province, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

A 55-year-old ultra-Orthodox Jewish man was lightly injured on Monday morning when he was attacked by a Palestinian wielding an axe outside the Old City of Jerusalem, Israel police said.

"A 55-year-old ultra-Orthodox Jewish man was attacked by an Arab man on Monday morning with an axe," a police statement said.

A Palestinian was killed by Israeli troops early Sunday near the security fence separating the Gaza Strip from Israel, an army spokesman said.

"A patrol spotted a suspicious figure digging a hole, indicating that he was planting an explosive device," said the spokesman, adding that soldiers had opened fire in his direction.

Washington will monitor actions by Egyptian politicians and hold them "accountable," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday, after the Muslim Brotherhood entered Egypt's presidential fray.

"We're going to watch what the political actors in Egypt do. We're going to watch their commitment to the rights and the dignity of every Egyptian," Clinton told reporters in Istanbul following a meeting of the "Friends of Syria" group.

Police on Sunday extended the detention of a Kuwaiti arrested last week for allegedly burning an Iranian flag in protest at a Shiite tweeter's apparent insult to the Prophet Mohammed, a legal source said.

Nahar al-Hajeri, who was arrested on Thursday, was questioned and then sent to the central jail for three weeks pending further investigation and trial, the source told Agence France Presse.

Iraq's Kurdish region halted oil exports on Sunday after Baghdad's top energy official warned it to reconsider before following through on the threat over the government's non-payment of funds.

The move by Kurdistan is the latest in a long-running row between Baghdad and Kurdish authorities in Arbil, who have squabbled over payments, revenue-sharing and the central government's refusal to recognize deals Kurdish officials have signed with foreign energy firms.