Mohammed Sensawi, a rebel fighter in the Syrian border town of Bab al-Hawa, said: "You see, I have a beard but no moustache. That is normal -- I am a Salafi."

Nearby are a group of Islamist fighters who were among those who wrested control of the Bab al-Hawa crossing between Syria and Turkey from forces loyal to embattled President Bashar al-Assad.

Rights groups, trade unionists and members of the February 20 protest movement have called for demonstrations across Morocco on Saturday against the high cost of living and other causes of social discontent.

An association of 18 rights groups announced a "national day of action against the high cost of living, rising prices, arrests and repression targeting protest movements."

Iran on Thursday appealed to Syria's government and armed opposition to open peace talks as it hosted a hastily arranged international conference on the conflict in its key Arab ally.

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told diplomats from Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Cuba, Venezuela and other nations that Tehran was prepared to also host such a dialogue, state television reported.

President Bashar Assad has appointed Wael al-Halqi as Syria's new premier, state television reported on Thursday.

"The president has signed Decree 298, appointing Wael al-Halqi as the new prime minister," the broadcaster reported.

The number of Syrian refugees in Turkey who have fled the escalating violence in their strife-torn homeland has reached more than 50,000, Turkish officials said Thursday.

The total number of the refugees was 50,227 as of Thursday after more than 5,000 Syrians crossed into Turkey this week, the country's Disaster and Emergency Administration said in a statement posted on its website.

Police on Thursday fired warning shots and tear gas to disperse a demonstration in the central Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid, birthplace of last year's revolution, an Agence France Presse journalist reported.

One person was wounded by a rubber bullet and four others affected by the tear gas were taken to the town's hospital, an official there said, adding that none of them were in a serious condition.

The U.S. and Israeli evaluation of Iran's nuclear program are closer than ever following a secret U.S. intelligence report, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Thursday.

"It seems there really is a report by U.S. intelligence agencies. I don't know if it's by the National Intelligence Estimate or a different agency circulating between senior chambers," he told public radio, asked about the report which Israeli daily Haaretz ran on its front page.

Rebels retreated from the key Aleppo district of Salaheddin under a deadly rain of shellfire on Thursday, with the showdown battle for Syria's commercial capital raging into a second day.

"We have staged a tactical withdrawal from Salaheddin. The district is completely empty of rebel fighters. Regime forces are now advancing into Salaheddin," said Hossam Abu Mohammed, a Free Syrian Army (FSA) commander.

Police and gunmen traded fire in the Sinai town of El-Arish on Thursday as security forces pushed ahead with a campaign aimed at quelling a surge in Islamist militancy, state television reported.

The state-owned Nile News television reported clashes outside a police station in the north Sinai town a day after reported air strikes killed 20 militants in a neighboring village.

An A310 airliner carrying a French military medical team destined to help refugees on the Joranian-Syrian border took off from Paris on Thursday.

With around 25 medical and 25 logistics staff on board, the plane was to stop off in Istres on France's Mediterranean coast to pick up 20 tons of medical aid before flying to Amman.