Syrian troops backed by tanks clamped down Monday on the flashpoint province of Homs, a day after gunboats joined an assault that killed more than 20 people in Latakia city, activists said.

As the country's anti-regime uprising turned five months old, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said snipers shot dead an old man in the provincial town of Hula and reported another killing in Latakia.

Attacks in more than a dozen cities across Iraq on Monday killed 60 people, including 34 in twin blasts in the southern city of Kut, in the bloodiest day in Iraq this year.

The surge of violence raises questions over the capabilities of Iraq's forces after its leaders agreed to open talks with the U.S. over a military training mission to last beyond a projected year-end American withdrawal.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi spat defiance at opposition forces and NATO on Monday amid rumors he was preparing to flee the country and as rebels made advances in several towns, especially in the west.

The veteran leader predicted a swift end for "the rats" and the "colonizer", referring to the rebels and NATO, in an audio message on Libyan television, extracts of which were published by Libyan news agency JANA.

Some 2,000 migrants from north Africa have arrived on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa this weekend, ANSA news agency reported Sunday.

About 100 women and 40 children including three babies were among those who reached the island between Saturday morning and Sunday morning on a dozen boats.

King Abdullah II on Sunday said a panel he named earlier this year has recommended the creation of a constitutional court as a key step to achieve social and political reforms in Jordan.

Proposals made by the Royal Committee on Constitutional Review are "solid proof of Jordan's ability to revitalize itself and its legislation and approach the future with a vision of social and political reform," the king said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday pledged "concrete solutions" to the cost of living in Israel but warned that reforms would be constrained by the fragility of the world economy.

A day after police said at least 50,000 people protested in Israel's "periphery" towns and cities, Netanyahu told his weekly cabinet meeting that he expects a committee to recommend reform options in September.

Morocco announced plans Sunday to hold early parliamentary elections in mid-November, as the Arab world's longest-serving monarchy pursues reforms in response to protests inspired by the Arab Spring.

During long overnight negotiations with the interior ministry, officials from some 20 political parties in the north African nation agreed in principle for the election to be held in mid-November.

Egypt's military prosecution on Sunday detained activist and blogger Asma Mahfouz for questioning for allegedly defaming the military council on Facebook and Twitter, the official MENA news agency reported.

Mahfouz -- one of the leaders of the Egyptian revolution that unseated former president Hosni Mubarak -- was released on bail of 20,000 pounds (around 3,300 dollars, 2,300 euros) but the investigation continues, MENA said.

A Jordanian and an Israeli are to go on trial in Egypt on charges of spying for the Jewish state's intelligence services, the state news agency MENA said on Sunday.

The telecoms engineer from Jordan and the Israeli "officer with the Mossad" spy agency are to go on trial in Egypt's state security court on charges of having worked "to damage the national interests of Egypt," it said.

Kuwait has beefed up security around a controversial port project ahead of a visit by an Iraqi delegation for talks, a security official was quoted as saying Sunday.

The increased security around the Mubarak al-Kabir port on Bubiyan Island follows remarks by an Iraqi MP in the Kuwaiti press, which cited him as saying Iraqi militant groups could "easily invade Kuwait". The MP told Agence France Presse, however, that his comments were misinterpreted.