Members of Oman's recently elected Majlis Al-Shura consultative council elected Saturday their speaker for the first time ever after Sultan Qaboos slightly expanded the body's powers.

Khaled bin Hilal al-Maawali got 50 votes from the 84-member council, whose chief used to be named by the sultan, ONA state news agency.

The White House said the top U.S. and Iraqi national security chiefs discussed the future of their countries' ties on Saturday, two months before all U.S. troops are due to leave Iraq.

During their talks at the White House, U.S. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon and his Iraqi counterpart Falah al-Fayadh "reaffirmed the common vision of a broad, deep strategic partnership between the United States and Iraq as embodied in the Strategic Framework Agreement," spokesman Jay Carney said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Syria to "immediately" end attacks on civilians Saturday, a day after President Bashar Assad launched a fierce crackdown that killed over 50 people.

Ban "appeals for military operations against civilians to stop at once," said his spokesman Martin Nesirky.

Iran's foreign minister and head of the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq declared on Saturday the issue of a Kurdish rebel group which has been launching attacks against the Islamic republic from its rear bases in Iraq was "over."

In July, Tehran launched a string of operations against the rebel Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) and began shelling districts near the border with Iraq, killing dozens including the rebels' deputy commander.

Israeli air raids killed seven Islamic Jihad militants in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, prompting a massive barrage of retaliatory rocket fire, officials said.

Adham Abu Selmiya, spokesman for Gaza's emergency services, said five members of the al-Quds Brigades, Islamic Jihad's armed wing, were killed and three critically wounded in a first Israeli attack.

Volunteers are still finding dozens of bodies in Moammar Gadhafi’s hometown of Sirte that fell on October 20, including of Libyan civilians killed in a suspected NATO air strike.

Twenty-six unmarked makeshift graves covered by breeze-blocks were discovered at a water treatment plant in Number Two district where pro-Gadhafi fighters put up a final stand after several weeks of heavy bombardment.

Calm returned on Saturday to Sidi Bouzid, the birthplace of the Tunisian revolution, after an overnight curfew imposed because of violent post-election protests, police said.

"There were no incidents during the night," a police official said.

Saudis began swearing allegiance on Saturday to the new Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, described by the local press as the "man for the job" and praised in Washington for his commitment to fight terrorism.

Nayef -- who served as interior minister for nearly four decades and led a crackdown on al-Qaida in the kingdom -- was named in a royal decree on Thursday to succeed Prince Sultan who died in the U.S. last week following a long illness and was buried in Riyadh.

Clashes between Syrian troops and suspected deserters reportedly killed 17 soldiers, a rights group said Saturday, as Arab foreign ministers condemned the murder of dozens of civilians during anti-regime protests.

The latest civilian bloodletting came on Friday as worshippers emerging from weekly Muslim prayers swarmed streets in the central protest hub of Homs and other towns urging a Libya-style no-fly zone to protect civilians and encourage army deserters.

Hamas could be swept out of power by the Arab Spring if the Palestinian Authority is able to show "tangible" results from peace negotiations with Israel, a top U.S. diplomat said Thursday.

"The Palestinians are no more immune to the currents of change and demand for democratization, reform and freedom than any of the other people in the region," said Ambassador David Hale, the U.S. envoy for Middle East Peace.