Clashes between Egyptian security forces and protesters demanding an end to military rule entered a fifth day on Tuesday, as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denounced the beating of women as a "disgrace."

Riot police used rocks, batons and live bullets to disperse protesters through the night and into the morning, witnesses said, in violence that has left 12 people dead since Friday.

Representatives of Syria's opposition will visit Iraq next week as part of Baghdad's efforts to end nine months of unrest in the country, National Security Adviser Falah al-Fayadh said on Monday.

"The Syrian opposition will visit Iraq next week," Fayadh told state broadcaster Al-Iraqiyah TV. He did not give any further details of the visit.

The U.N. General Assembly on Monday passed a resolution condemning human rights in Syria where a government crackdown on protests has left more than 5,000 dead, according to U.N. estimates.

The resolution was passed with 133 countries in favor, 11 against, with 43 abstentions. Syria's U.N. ambassador said the resolution was part of a "devilish" plot against his country.

Dozens of Syrian army deserters were killed by machinegun fire as they tried to flee their military posts in northwestern Idlib province on Monday, as security forces shot dead 25 civilians across the country, rights groups said.

In a statement sent to Agence France Presse, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said between 60 and 70 deserters were gunned down as they abandoned their positions in the Idlib towns of Kansafra and Kafr Awid.

Iraq issued an arrest warrant for its Sunni vice president Monday in an anti-terror case, deepening a crisis that one of the country's leaders warned could force the collapse of the unity government.

Barely a day after American forces completed their withdrawal from the country, Iraq's fragile political truce was unraveling, with Tareq al-Hashemi wanted, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki calling for the sacking of one of his deputies, a Sunni who belongs to the same bloc as Hashemi.

Saudi King Abdullah called for the formation of a Gulf union in response to growing threats, as rulers of the Gulf Cooperation Council member states met on Monday against a backdrop of regional turmoil and fears over Iran.

"I ask today that we move from a phase of cooperation to a phase of union within a single entity," said the Saudi king, addressing his counterparts at the opening of the annual GCC summit in Riyadh.

Syria's main civilian opposition alliance will ask for an Arab military intervention if President Bashar al-Assad's regime continues its deadly crackdown on protesters, the group's leader said Monday.

The Syrian National Council, which held a conference in Tunis in a bid to close ranks and up the pressure on Assad after nine months of bloodshed, also warned that the regime's acceptance an Arab peace plan was a ploy.

France on Monday urged Syria to allow an Arab League observer mission to start its work monitoring the bloody conflict there as quickly as possible.

"We regret there have been 30 more deaths in the past two days. It's urgent," a foreign ministry spokesman said, shortly after Damascus agreed to accept Arab monitors.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said on Monday that an advance team of observers would head to Damascus within 72 hours, after Syria inked a deal to end nine months of bloodshed.

"Within two or three days, an advance team of observers headed by Arab League Assistant Secretary General Samir Seif al-Yazal, including security, legal and administrative observers, will be sent," Arabi told reporters.

Egypt's ruling military council, which took power when Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February, said on Monday it had uncovered a plot to burn down parliament.

General Adel Emara, a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, interrupted a live news conference to say that he had "received a call now to say that a plot was uncovered today to burn parliament and there are now large crowds in Tahrir Square ready to implement the plan."