The military governor of Libya's restive Benghazi on Monday escaped an assassination attempt that killed a member of his entourage and seriously wounded another, a security official told Agence France Presse.

"The motorcade of Colonel Abdallah al-Saati, head of the joint security room and military governor of Benghazi, was attacked as he passed through the Al-Hadeq area, leaving one dead and one seriously wounded from his entourage," said security forces spokesman Colonel Abdallah al-Zaidi.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday he expected a long-delayed peace conference on Syria's bloody conflict will be held in "mid-December" with a specific date to be set next week.

"I am not able to announce at this time any date. Our target is mid-December," Ban told reporters during a visit to Lithuania.

Belgian Defense Minister Pieter De Crem on Monday said he was "not favorable" to destroying part of Syria's chemical weapons arsenal in Belgium.

Belgium, along with France and Albania, were contacted by the United States as possible sites for the dismantling of Syria's more than 1,000-tonne arsenal. Albania has since refused to take part.

Iran on Monday unveiled a missile-equipped drone with a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles), the official IRNA news agency reported.

"The Fotros drone has an operational range of 2,000 kilometers and can fly at an altitude of 25,000 feet, with a flight time of 16 to 30 hours," Defence Minister Mohammad Dehgan was quoted as saying.

Mortar rounds fired on a central district of the Syrian capital Damascus on Monday killed two people, state news agency SANA reported.

"Two citizens were killed and others were injured by mortars fired by terrorists at Al-Mawassam Square in the Qassaa neighborhood," the agency said.

French President Francois Hollande on Monday called for a complete halt to Israel's settlement activities on land the Palestinians want for a future state.

"France demands a full and complete halt to settlement activity," he said at a joint news conference in Ramallah with his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas.

Violence across Iraq, including a spate of evening bombings against markets and cafes in Baghdad, killed at least 26 people and a dozen militants, officials said Monday.

The attacks on Sunday were the latest in a protracted surge in violence that has forced Iraq to appeal for international help in combating militancy just months before its first general election in four years.

Jordan has applied for a two-year term on the U.N. Security Council, the information minister said on Monday, after Saudi Arabia won a seat and then turned it down.

"Jordan has officially applied for a non-permanent seat on the U.N. security Council. The kingdom is interested in this seat and realizes its political and diplomatic responsibilities," Mohammad Momonai told Agence France Presse.

Leaders from the Libyan port of Misrata have urged militias from the city to leave Tripoli within 72 hours, after they were involved in deadly weekend clashes in the capital.

A militia of former rebels from Misrata who fought the regime of dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 opened fire on protesters in Tripoli, sparking unrest that killed at least 43 people.

The head of the Syrian rebel Liwa al-Tawhid Brigade has died of wounds he suffered in a regime air strike last week, the rebels and a monitor said on Monday.

"Abdel Qader Saleh has been martyred," said a posting on a Facebook page linked to the brigade.