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.

A Syrian-American pleaded not guilty in U.S. court Friday to charges he spied on anti-Assad protesters and handed recordings to Syrian intelligence in a bid to silence the opposition.

Mohamad Anas Haitham Soueid, 47, was remanded to custody by U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton, who set a March 5 trial date.

Spain summoned Syria's ambassador to Madrid on Friday, complaining of allegations that members of his embassy abused Syrian opposition sympathizers on Spanish soil, the Spanish government said.

The foreign ministry summoned ambassador Hussamedin Ala'a "after repeated complaints by Syrian and Spanish-Syrian citizens, opponents of the current regime, of acts allegedly committed by members of the embassy in clear abuse of their status," it said in a statement.

Yemenis marched by the thousands on Friday demanding President Ali Abdullah Saleh be tried, as a woman was killed by a sniper and five other people were wounded, four critically, witnesses said.

Meanwhile, an officer in charge of an anti-terrorism unit in the main southern city of Aden was killed in a car blast that was blamed on al-Qaida.

Several thousand protesters in Cairo called on the ruling military on Friday to promptly transfer power to a civilian government and exclude old regime figures from politics.

The protesters in Tahrir Square, the epicenter of Egypt's uprising that ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February, chanted "down with the military" and called on the ruling generals to "return to the barracks."

U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday congratulated Saudi King Abdullah on the selection of Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz as his heir, noting the new crown prince's counterterrorism record.

"I congratulate King Abdullah and the Saudi people on the selection of Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz as crown prince. We in the United States know and respect him for his strong commitment to combating terrorism and supporting regional peace and security," Obama said in a statement.

Lithuania said Friday that it had barred Syrian planes from crossing its airspace on their way to Russia's Kaliningrad territory amid concerns that they could transport military cargo.

A Lithuanian defense ministry spokesperson told Agence France Presse that it acted in line with European Union sanctions, which were imposed in May due to a crackdown by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The head of the Islamist party Ennahda that won Tunisia's weekend elections called Friday for calm in Sidi Bouzid, the town where the north African country's revolution began, after overnight unrest.

"We call for calm and the preservation of public property," Rached Ghannouchi said after more than 2,000 youths marched on Ennahda's headquarters and sacked public buildings in Sidi Bouzid following the announcement of election results on Thursday.