Iraq's fugitive Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi has accused Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite government of waging a systematic campaign against Sunni Arabs in Iraq.

In an interview with the pan-Arab al-Jazeera network aired late on Wednesday, Hashemi said the accusations against him of running a death squad "have a sectarian dimension," noting that he is the "fifth Sunni figure to be targeted" by Iraq's Shiite-led government.

At least 38 people, half of them civilians, were killed in violence across Syria on Thursday, monitors said, with fierce fighting between regime troops and insurgents in the rebel provinces of Idlib and Homs, as a spokesman for Kofi Annan said the U.N.-Arab League envoy expects both the Syrian government and the opposition to fully implement a ceasefire agreement by April 12.

The violence came despite the arrival in Damascus of a U.N. team dispatched by Annan to pave the way for a possible observer mission in Syria.

The Syrian regime is not bound by a deadline to withdraw its troops from strife-torn areas, pro-government daily al-Watan on Thursday quoted a government official as saying.

"There is no set date or deadline," the unnamed official said.

Russia on Thursday warned the West against using threats and ultimatums in its approach to Syria's regime as the United Nations prepared a statement on the protracted conflict.

"Russia proceeds from a deep conviction that any steps around Syria should be aimed at facilitating the success of U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan's mission," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

Jordan has nudged Israeli and Palestinian negotiators back to discussions on the peace process, a government official said on Thursday, adding that the two sides had met in Amman during the night.

"Israeli and Palestinian officials met last night in Amman for discussions," the official told Agence France Presse, speaking on condition of anonymity.

More than 1,000 Syrian refugees fled to Turkey in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of people currently staying in Turkey to nearly 21,000, a Turkish official told AFP on Thursday.

"A total of 1,043 Syrians made their way to Turkey in a single day, marking the highest figure in recent times," the official said on condition of anonymity.

Fierce clashes between Syrian government forces and rebel fighters erupted on Thursday in Douma, near the capital Damascus, while violence also raged in other parts of the strife-torn country, monitors said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said regime troops backed by tanks stormed Douma at dawn amid heavy gunfire and shelling.

A rocket fired from the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula exploded in the Israeli Red Sea resort town of Eilat early on Thursday but caused no injuries or damage, a senior police official said.

Public radio said police in Eilat had been put on the highest state of alert following the blast.

Turkey's foreign ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador Wednesday over remarks by a top official in Tehran denouncing an international conference on the Syria crisis held in Istanbul.

The move came as Iran said it no longer wanted Turkey to host nuclear talks, and followed comments reportedly made by Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani critical of Ankara for staging the "Friends of Syria" conference.

Fresh fighting erupted in western Libya on Wednesday, killing at least two people near the border with Tunisia, a hospital official said.

"The situation is once again critical," said Shukri al-Arabi, who runs the only hospital of Zuwarah, a coastal town 100 kilometers (120 miles) west of Tripoli.