Syria has not taken any new steps in recent days that signal a readiness to use its chemical weapons arsenal, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Tuesday, citing intelligence reports.

"At this point the intelligence has really kind of leveled off. We haven't seen anything new indicating any aggressive steps to move forward in that way," Panetta told reporters aboard his plane before landing in Kuwait to discuss bolstering security ties amid tumult in the region and tensions with Iran.

Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi has taken sanctioned leave for three months, pro-government daily Al-Watan said on Tuesday, following reports of the diplomat's resignation.

"The foreign ministry has authorized Jihad Makdissi to go on leave for a period of three months and he left the country in a legal manner," the newspaper said, citing an official source.

Iraq hosted an international conference on Israel's Palestinian and Arab prisoners on Tuesday, the latest in a series of events held in Baghdad as the country seeks to re-emerge on the regional stage.

Talks on Iran's disputed nuclear program and a summit of Arab leaders were held earlier this year in Iraq, which is still struggling with the impact of decades of violence, war and sanctions.

A Bahraini court cut on Tuesday the jail terms against rights activist Nabeel Rajab, who is behind bars for taking part in anti-regime protests, from a total of three years to two, lawyers said.

The appeals court reduced two jail sentences in cases involving attendance at unauthorized protests from one year to six months each, while it upheld a one-year jail term in a third case, the lawyers said.

The number of Syrian refugees registered in neighboring countries and North Africa has passed half a million, the U.N.'s refugee body said Tuesday, adding that many more have not come forward to seek help.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said it had either registered or was in the process of registering 509,550 Syrians in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Turkey and North Africa

Israeli forces raided the offices of three Palestinian non-government organizations overnight, confiscating computers and other material, one of the groups said on Tuesday.

"At 3:00 am this morning, 11 December 2012, the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights office was raided by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF)," the Addameer group said on its website.

Fierce clashes raged between Syrian troops and rebels around a major infantry academy at the northern entrance of Aleppo, as insurgents attempted to storm the school compound on Tuesday, a watchdog said.

The sprawling military school, located close to the town of Muslimiyeh near the Hanadarat Palestinian refugee camp, houses approximately 3,000 soldiers, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Egypt's powerful army called for President Mohamed Morsi and the secular opposition to meet to resolve a deepening crisis over a constitutional referendum that sparked rival mass protests on Tuesday.

General Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, the country's armed forces chief and defense minister, made the appeal "for the sake of Egypt" for all political groups and movements to meet on Wednesday at a Cairo military sports complex, according to a statement posted on the military's official Facebook page.

A major offensive launched by Yemeni army against al-Qaida following the assassination of a top officer has killed at least 24 people, including 17 soldiers, a military official said.

"Troops backed by air forces launched a wide operation in the region of Wadi Abida," targeting al-Qaida hideouts, a military official said on condition of anonymity.

Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman criticized Europe on Tuesday, saying its treatment of the Jewish state was comparable to policies during the Holocaust.

Lieberman said Europe had turned a blind eye to a speech by Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal this week, in which he said the Palestinians would not "cede an inch" of historic Palestine, which includes much of modern Israel.