Russia on Thursday warned of "bloody chaos" in Syria should peace talks led by U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi fail to end the 21-month conflict estimated to have claimed more than 45,000 lives.

"The alternative to a peaceful solution is bloody chaos. The longer it continues, the greater its scale -- and the worse things get for all," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the Interfax news agency.

Egypt's public prosecutor on Thursday ordered a probe into the top three leaders of the opposition on suspicion of trying to incite followers to overthrow President Mohamed Morsi, a legal source said.

The prosecutor, Taalat Ibrahim Abdallah, who was appointed by Morsi late last month, signed the order against the leaders of the opposition National Salvation Front, which led protests against Morsi's drive to have a new constitution adopted.

Israeli prosecutors have decided to toughen charges leveled against ex-foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman of fraud and breach of trust, the justice ministry said on Thursday.

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein announced on December 13 that he would be charging Lieberman with the two offenses over the promotion of Israel's former ambassador to Belarus, Zeev Ben Arie, and presented the indictment to parliament before filing it to the court.

Three Israeli settlers in the West Bank were on Thursday charged in Beersheva district court with carrying out a "price-tag" attack against Palestinian property, the justice ministry said.

According to the charge-sheet, the three men, in their 20s, drove to the West Bank village al Asja, northeast of Dhahiriya in the southern Hebron hills, on December 2.

Egypt's legal and parliamentary affairs minister announced his resignation on Thursday, the day after President Mohamed Morsi vowed a government reshuffle to tackle the country's troubled economy.

Mohammed Mahsoub said he was stepping down because "many policies and efforts contradict my personal convictions," according to his letter published on the Facebook page belonging to a leader of his moderate Islamist Wasat party.

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi is to visit Germany on January 30, the official news agency MENA reported on Thursday, quoting a presidential spokesman.

Morsi is to make the trip at the invitation of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the spokesman, Yasser Ali, said.

The Syrian vice president's criticism of leader Bashar Assad has highlighted the cracks in the regime's highest ranks, pitting supporters of compromise against the president's hardline inner circle.

Assad's closest aides believe the regime should keep fighting and that they can still win a war against rebels which has left more than 44,000 dead in almost two years.

Egypt's state prosecutor on Thursday ordered imprisoned former dictator Hosni Mubarak to be transferred to a military hospital after his health deteriorated, a source at the prosecutor's office said.

Mubarak, serving a life sentence over the killings of protesters, was briefly taken to hospital on December 19 for scans after he fell in his prison bathroom and hurt his head.

Yemeni police have found the mutilated body of an officer kidnapped last month in the eastern province of Hadramawt, a security official said on Thursday, pointing to al-Qaida militants as suspects.

"The security forces found the body of Lieutenant Colonel Al-Numeiri Abdo al-Oudi," who was the deputy police chief in Al-Qotn village, the official said.

France said on Thursday that President Bashar Assad should not have any role in Syria's political transition as he had too much blood on his hands.

"Bashar Assad, who is still ferociously repressing his people and bears responsibility for the 45,000 victims of this conflict cannot be part of the political transition," foreign ministry deputy spokesman Vincent Floreani said.