Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has activated its formidable grassroots ahead of next week's presidential vote, but the Islamists may have hemorrhaged the support that helped them take parliament earlier this year.

Pressed in by the military rulers who took charge after president Hosni Mubarak's ouster last year, and facing an electorate impatient with the weak parliament's performance, the Islamists are desperate for executive power.

Seven people were killed and more than 20 wounded as gunmen raided the oasis town of Ghadames on the border with Algeria on Wednesday, Libya's government spokesman said.

"There were clashes in the city of Ghadames," Nasser al-Manaa said.

A new Palestinian government in the West Bank featuring 11 new faces was sworn in on Wednesday at a ceremony in Ramallah, in a move which angered the Hamas government in Gaza.

Ministers, including returning prime minister Salam Fayyad, took the oath of office in the presence of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

Syrians showed in elections this month that they support the government's policy of reform and a majority back the regime, President Bashar Assad said in an interview broadcast Wednesday.

The results of the May 7 legislative poll showed that the Syrian people "are until now supporting the policy of reform" and "support the institutions of the state", Assad told Russia's Rossia-24 state news channel.

Iran, the main regional ally of Syria, said on Wednesday that Damascus needs more time to make a U.N.-backed plan aimed at ending 15 months of violence work.

"More time should be given to the Syrian government in order to make (U.N.-Arab League envoy) Kofi Annan's plan a success," Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said, quoted by ISNA news agency.

An all-out army offensive against Al-Qaida in south Yemen raged into a fifth straight day on Wednesday with battles around the restive town of Loder leaving another 13 people dead, most of them jihadists, sources said.

Wednesday's fighting saw the army backed by local militiamen taking on Al-Qaida insurgents in an area surrounding Mount Yasuf, overlooking Loder in Abyan province, which until it was overrun on Tuesday had been an Al-Qaida stronghold, witnesses said.

Prominent Bahraini rights activist Nabil Rajab told a court on Wednesday that a charge that he tweeted insults against the government were "vindictive," as dozens of lawyers turned up to defend him.

"The charge against me is vindictive and is due to my rights activism," Rajab told a judge at Manama's Minor Criminal Court, insisting the decision to arrest and try him was political, according to witnesses.

Iran has called on its people to stage rallies after this week's Friday prayers to protest against what it described as a U.S. plan to annex Bahrain to Saudi Arabia.

The Islamic Propagation Coordination Council, which organizes state-backed protests, urged Iranians "to protest against the American plan to annex Bahrain to Saudi Arabia and express their anger against the lackey regimes of Al-Khalifa and Al-Saud."

A reshuffled Palestinian cabinet in the West Bank with seven new faces is to be sworn in on Wednesday, labour minister Ahmed Majdalani told Agence France Presse.

"The government will be sworn in at (President Mahmoud) Abbas's office at 6:00 pm (15:00 GMT)," he said.

Syria's rebels have seen an influx of arms including anti-tank weaponry for their fight against President Bashar Assad regime, in an effort coordinated with the help of the United States, a report said Wednesday.

Officials in President Barack Obama's administration insist it is not directly supplying the weapons or providing funding, with Gulf states paying for the new arms, the Washington Post said, citing U.S. and foreign officials.