Iran is the "only power" that can secure the oil-rich Gulf, a Revolutionary Guards commander said on Tuesday, adding that the reinforced U.S. navy presence in the waterway was causing regional instability.

"The only power which can provide for the security in the region is the Islamic Republic of Iran and the world is slowly grasping this issue," said Admiral Ali Fadavi, the Guards' top naval chief, quoted by the website of the Bushehr provincial governor's office (ostb.ir).

At least 42 people were killed Tuesday when a bus travelling between Marrakesh and Ouarzazate in southern Morocco plunged into a ravine, a security official said.

All the victims were Moroccan, a local official told Agence France Presse. "But we are still in the process of identifying the bodies, as well as the injured," he added.

The number of Syrian refugees rose sharply last month, with more than 100,000 fleeing the war-torn country to seek refuge in neighboring countries, the U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday.

It was the highest monthly figure since the conflict erupted in March last year, UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told reporters.

Yemen told a donor meeting on Tuesday it needs almost $12 billion dollars in the short term to weather a rough political transition triggered by Arab Spring protests.

"The national unity government needs $11.9 billion in the short term," Planning and International Cooperation Minister Mohammed al-Saadi told delegates at the meeting in the Saudi capital.

Rebel-held neighborhoods of Syria's northern city Aleppo, which faced renewed army attacks with artillery and mortar fire on Tuesday, are struggling with severe food shortages, a local activist told Agence France Presse.

"The regime prevents food from reaching the liberated areas (under rebel control). Residents are forced to smuggle products from neighborhood to neighborhood," said Barra, an activist in the opposition bastion of Sakhur in Aleppo's northeast.

Red Cross chief Peter Maurer held a 45 minute meeting with President Bashar Assad in Damasc on Tuesday during which he expressed concern over the humanitarian situation in Syria, an official said.

Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, during the meeting urged respect for international humanitarian law and the need to boost assistance on the ground in Syria, ICRC spokesman Hisham Hassan said in a statement.

Gulf Arab states accusing Iran of meddling in their internal affairs are trying to deflect attention from civil movements protesting for more rights, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.

"Repeating these claims will not change the realities in the region," Ramin Mehmanparast said in a statement relayed by Iranian media.

Unknown assailants Tuesday blew up a gas pipeline that feeds Yemen's liquefied natural gas to the Balhaf export terminal, a local official said, just days after it was repaired from previous sabotage.

A bomb planted underneath the pipe in Safir fields, in the Marib Province, east of Sanaa, exploded early Tuesday, the official said.

Syria's main opposition group pleaded Monday for weapons and urgent military intervention to defend civilians from bombardments by President Bashar Assad's army.

"We need a humanitarian intervention and we are asking for military intervention for the Syrian civilians," Syrian National Council leader Abdel Basset Sayda said after meeting Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo.

CIA chief David Petraeus is visiting Turkey for meetings on regional issues, a U.S. official told Agence France Presse on Monday.

The official would not say with whom the CIA chief would be meeting and where.