Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Thursday he believes "the Arab Spring will be followed by a Persian Spring," with international sanctions against Iran leading to renewed domestic unrest.

His remarks came a day after scuffles broke out in central Tehran in the first sign of unrest over Iran's plunging currency, which has lost more than half its value since last week as European and U.S. sanctions have bitten.

A car bomb hit a private security convoy in Baghdad on Thursday, killing four people and wounding at least nine others, security and medical officials said.

The bomb exploded in the Mansour area of west Baghdad about 9:00 am (06:00 GMT), killing four people and wounding nine, an interior ministry official said.

An explosion followed by an exchange of fire with rebels in Damascus province on Thursday left at least 21 members of Syria's elite Republican Guards unit dead, a watchdog said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had reported an earlier toll of 18 from the violence in Qudsaya, west of the capital, but revised it upwards.

Turkey pounded Syrian targets early on Thursday, killing several soldiers, in reprisal for deadly cross-border fire that has sharply escalated tensions in the tinder-box region.

In Ankara, the Turkish parliament met behind closed doors in an emergency session to consider the government's request to authorize Ankara to conduct cross-border military operations inside Syria.

A ship built in Gaza will sail next year carrying Palestinian exports to international customers, and to challenge Israel's blockade from the inside out, Canadian activists said Wednesday.

The Gaza's Ark project is building a boat using existing resources in the tiny Palestinian enclave to carry Palestinian goods to the outside world, former Canadian Member of Parliament Jim Manly.

Turkey's government will seek approval from parliament for cross-border military operation in Syria "when deemed necessary", at a special session Thursday morning, the private NTV television reported.

The decision came after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a three-and-half hour cabinet meeting following Syrian shelling that killed five Turkish nationals in a border town.

The Hamas movement in Gaza expressed "deep regret" on Wednesday over a commentary aired by Syrian state television that criticized the group's leader Khaled Meshaal.

The remarks, broadcast on Syrian state television on Tuesday night, came after Meshaal attended a conference on Sunday of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development party, which has been a staunch of the Syrian opposition.

Israeli President Shimon Peres expressed hope on Wednesday that his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would vanish during the coming year, along with others whom he said threaten the Jewish State.

"I pray that next year will be the greatest year in the history of the State of Israel and that those, like Ahmadinejad, who threaten us will disappear," his office quoted him in English as telling visitors to his official residence during an open day to mark Sukkot, the week-long Jewish Feast of Tabernacles.

Turkey on Wednesday shelled Syria in retaliation for cross-border fire that killed five Turkish nationals, the prime minister's office said in a statement.

"Our armed forces in the border region immediately retaliated against this heinous attack... by shelling the targets spotted by radar," it said.

Yemeni security forces nabbed two al-Qaida militants at a checkpoint in the southern city of Aden on Wednesday, a security official said.

"Amar al-Maysari and Ali al-Jahafi, who are members of al-Qaida, were arrested at Al-Rabat checkpoint," north of the port city, the official said.