Dozens of Turkish truck drivers on Saturday accused Free Syrian Army rebels of having burned and looted their lorries as they captured a border post in Syria from government troops.

A group of truck owners, traders and transporters who have braved Syria's highways despite the bloody conflict have been waiting since Friday at Turkey's Cilvegozu border crossing, opposite Syria's Bab al-Hawa post.

Prime Minister Najib Razak said Malaysia will immediately evacuate its nationals from strife-torn Syria and shut its mission there in response to the worsening security situation.

Foreign Minister Anifah Aman had sought Najib's approval to evacuate Malaysians as violence escalated across Syria.

Syrian rebels controlled on Saturday one of the three main border crossings between Iraq and Syria despite shelling from President Bashar Assad's forces, Iraqi officials told AFP.

The officials also said Syrian refugees had attempted to enter Iraq but Baghdad had ordered its security forces not to allow them to cross into the country from any entry points.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said Saturday that Syrian authorities have "manifestly failed" to protect civilians and called on the international community to act to stop the violence.

"The Syrian government has manifestly failed to protect civilians and the international community has a collective responsibility to live up to the U.N. charter and act on its principles," Ban said during a visit to Croatia's Brijuni Island as part of a week-long Balkans tour.

An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced Ali Wanis, a Muslim cleric and ex-lawmaker, to 18 months in prison after he was found guilty of committing an "indecent act" in a car with a female university student.

Wanis, however, can avoid jail by paying 1,500 Egyptian pounds ($250) in bail as the case goes to an appeal court.

The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas ruling Gaza said on Saturday it would free more than 150 prisoners "as a gift" for the holy month of Ramadan.

The Hamas government "was releasing 159 inmates ... on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan and as a gift" from its head, Ismail Haniya, a statement quoted interior ministry official Islam Shahwan as saying.

Turkish officials Saturday blamed sabotage for a fire on a pipeline carrying Iraqi crude to a Mediterranean port from where it is transported to world markets, Anatolia news agency reported.

The fire on the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline erupted late Friday between the villages of Sogutlu and Senkoy in southeastern Turkey, the governor of Mardin province, Mardin Turhan Ayvaz said, blaming it on "sabotage.

At least 20 people were killed across Syria on Saturday, as the clock started ticking on a 30-day deadline for violence to abate sufficiently for a troubled U.N. observer mission to remain in place.

At least 12 civilians were among the dead as clashes rocked both of the country's largest cities, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Iraq's government said on Friday it was unable to provide help for Syrian refugees looking to escape their country's ongoing strife because of the poor security situation within Iraq.

"Our borders are desert areas, and we cannot provide aid for refugees and because of the security situation," government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said in an interview on Iraqiya state TV, to explain why Iraq would not be able to support Syrian refugees.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Western powers on Friday not to take unilateral action against the Syrian government outside the U.N. Security Council.

The Kremlin said Putin delivered the comments at a closed meeting of Russia's powerful Security Council that groups all the top ministers and decides strategy on the most sensitive foreign and domestic affairs.