Israel will resume construction of its controversial West Bank barrier within the next few weeks after a five-year delay, public radio reported on Thursday, citing an army officer.

Israeli radio reported that Colonel Ofer Hindi, the officer responsible for the barrier, delivered details of the plans to resume construction work in a session before the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Two Kuwaiti liberal groups called on Wednesday for key reforms including legalizing political parties and establishing an electoral commission as a prelude to adopting a full parliamentary system.

The Kuwait Democratic Forum and National Democratic Alliance, which have six MPs in the 50-member parliament, said such reforms are essential to resolve lingering political disputes in the oil-rich Gulf state.

A Syrian general and a number of soldiers defected and crossed into Turkey on Wednesday, the 15th such high-ranking officer to flee the conflict-wracked nation, a Turkish diplomat said.

A total of 66 people fled into Turkey from Syria on Wednesday, including the general and two colonels as well as soldiers and their families, the diplomat told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.

Hundreds of Egyptians have been making their way to the presidential palace in Cairo to air their grievances and demand solutions directly from newly-elected President Mohammed Morsi.

For days they have flocked to the palace in the upmarket neighborhood of Heliopolis after Morsi, who was sworn in as Egypt's first civilian president on Saturday, said his doors would be open to all Egyptians.

Yemeni air forces raided the only town in the southern Abyan province where jihadists still have a strong presence, killing three al-Qaida militants on Wednesday, a top official in the town told Agence France Presse.

"Three al-Qaida militants were killed and seven others wounded in an air strike that targeted one of their positions in the town of Mahfad," said Yaslam al-Anburi.

Britain and France Wednesday said there could be no political transition in Syria with President Bashar Assad and urged Russia to stop backing its traditional ally.

The comments by British Foreign Secretary William Hague and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius came after world powers agreed in Geneva on Saturday on a plan for transition in Syria.

France Friday hosts a third "Friends of Syria" meeting aiming to co-ordinate Western and Arab efforts to stop violence in the country, amid reports Russia is being asked to take President Bashar Assad in exile.

The Paris meeting follows one in Tunis in February and another in April in Istanbul that both called in vain for tougher action against the Assad regime.

Syrian troops pounded several districts of the central city of Homs on Wednesday and clashed with rebels as at least 48 people were killed in violence across the country, activists and a watchdog said.

Regime forces killed 12 people in Daraa, nine in the countryside around Damascus, eight in Idlib, seven in Aleppo, five in Deir Ezzor, three in Homs, two in Damscus, one in Latakia and one in Hama, the opposition Local Coordination Committees reported.

The independent Tunisian authority charged with reforming the media announced on Wednesday that it had shut down after failing to achieve its objective, accusing the Islamist-dominated government of censorship.

"The body does not see the point in continuing its work and announces that it has terminated its work," said Kamel Labidi, who heads the National Body for the Reform of Information and Communication (INRIC).

Syria's fractured opposition groups on Wednesday wound up talks in the Egyptian capital that descended into chaos and even fist fights as they tried to forge a common vision for a transition in their country.

More than 200 participants from 30 different movements as well as independent figures, civil society groups and activists had gathered in Cairo to form a unified front against President Bashar Assad's regime.