Yemen's defense minister escaped unharmed when a bomb went off Tuesday in a village in southern Abyan province, an al-Qaida stronghold, a military official said.

"Two soldiers were killed and two others wounded in the explosion of the device in a convoy of the defense minister (Mohammed Nasser Ahmed Ali) near al-Kud," a village the army recaptured from al-Qaida two days ago, the official said.

The U.S. Treasury Department slapped sanctions on Syria's foreign minister and two other top officials Tuesday, adding new pressure on the embattled regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Asset freezes and bans on business interactions were imposed on Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, top presidential advisor Buthaina Shaaban, and Syrian ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali, the Treasury said.

Bahrain's main Shiite opposition party, Al-Wefaq, on Tuesday demanded the closure of military courts set up during a protest crackdown and condemned an attack on the home of its leader.

In a statement received by Agence France Presse, Wefaq demanded the "closure of military tribunals and the repeal of all their verdicts, the release of all political prisoners and the start of real political reforms" in the Gulf kingdom.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been out of Yemen for nearly three months, called on Tuesday for a mechanism to implement a Gulf plan aimed at a peaceful transition of power in his impoverished country.

Saleh, in a Riyadh hospital since June 4 after being wounded by a bomb in Sanaa, has so far refused to sign a plan proposed by the six Gulf monarchies calling for his resignation after protests against his rule erupted in January.

Libya's rebels issued a Saturday ultimatum for Moammar Gadhafi's forces to surrender or face a military onslaught, as NATO said the strongman is still able to command his troops despite being on the run.

National Transitional Council (NTC) chief Mustafa Abdul Jalil told reporters in the rebel stronghold Benghazi Tuesday that the respite was offered to mark the three-day Eid al-Fitr Muslim feast which follows the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Moammar Gadhafi's daughter Aisha, who fled to Algeria with other family members on Monday, has given birth to a baby daughter, an Algerian government official announced Tuesday.

"Aisha gave birth very early this morning. She had a little girl. Mother and daughter are doing fine," said the official.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime on Tuesday to stop its violent crackdown on protesters and release those arrested.

Ashton "expresses her continued deep concern about the violence perpetrated by the Syrian regime against peaceful demonstrators, human rights activists, and the Syrian people at large," her spokesman said in a statement.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has invited the head of the Libyan rebels' National Transitional Council (NTC) to visit Tehran, a foreign ministry statement said on Tuesday.

"In a phone conversation (Monday night) with the NTC head, Salehi congratulated the victory of the Muslim people of Libya and stressed (the desire) to deepen bilateral ties," said the statement, a copy of which was received by Agence France Presse.

Syrian security forces opened fire Tuesday, killing seven people as they tried to disperse thousands of protesters rallying against the regime on the first day of the three-day Muslim holiday that marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, activists said.

The activists said security forces fired at protesters in the southern province of Daraa, in the central city of Homs and in the Damascus suburbs following morning prayers marking Eid al-Fitr.

Moammar Gadhafi's youngest son, Khamis, has been killed in a clash with rebel fighters in southern Libya, Al-Arabiya television quoted the rebels as saying on Monday.

Meanwhile, Gadhafi's wife and three children fled to Algeria on Monday as rebels closed in on his hometown of Sirte and said the strongman still posed a danger to Libya and the world.