Under the rattle of heavy gunfire and loud explosions, Syrian army troops and tanks moved into a restive northwestern city from two sides Sunday, extending the crackdown on a region that is historically hostile the Damascus regime.

The Local Coordination Committee, which documents Syrian anti-government protests, said Jisr al-Shughour was attacked from the southern and eastern sides by troops in about 200 vehicles, including tanks. It said blasts were heard as helicopters clattered overhead.

The central committee of the Fatah party led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has voted to expel strongman Mohammed Dahlan, a Fatah official said on Sunday.

A committee member, speaking to Agence France Presse, said the movement was expelling Dahlan over allegations of corruption and murder, and recommending his case be referred to the attorney general.

Fatah will seek to keep current prime minister Salam Fayyad at the helm of a new government, an official said Sunday, but the nomination was immediately rejected by Hamas.

The central committee of Fatah, headed by president Mahmoud Abbas, agreed at a Saturday night meeting to throw their support behind Fayyad, a member of the committee told Agence France Presse.

Ten Yemeni soldiers and 21 suspected al-Qaida militants were killed in clashes in south Yemen on Saturday, the defence ministry said on its news website.

Fierce clashes erupted in the city of Zinjibar, in Abyan province, between gunmen who have seized control of most of the city and besieged troops from the 25th mechanized brigade, a military official said on the 26Sep.net website.

Violence north of Baghdad on Saturday killed nine people, including five members of a Sunni Arab family slain early in the morning, Iraqi security and medical officials said.

The attacks come with just months to go before all U.S. soldiers must withdraw from the country, with American officials pressing their counterparts in Baghdad to decide whether or not they want an extended U.S. military presence.

Suspected al-Qaida militants killed five Yemeni soldiers and wounded others on Saturday in an ambush near the southern city of Loder, witnesses said.

Witnesses said gunmen ambushed an army convoy carrying supplies and reinforcements to the 111th brigade, which is based in Loder, in Abyan province.

Around 4,300 Syrians who fled a brutal crackdown against pro-democracy protesters are staying in camps in southern Turkey, the Anatolie news agency reported Saturday.

Hundreds have fled in the last 24 hours, the agency said citing local sources.

Hundreds of Kuwaiti youths have rallied for the ouster of the oil-rich Gulf state's prime minister and for democratic reforms to resolve an ongoing political crisis.

Protesting for the fourth straight week late Friday, the youths also called for the removal of deputy premier Sheikh Ahmad Fahad al-Sabah who local media reported has submitted his resignation.

A general who has sided with anti-regime protests said in an interview published Saturday that Yemen will be safer without embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh in its fight against al-Qaida.

General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar accused the Yemeni president, who is being treated in the Saudi capital for bomb blast wounds, of nurturing the jihadist network in a ploy to "blackmail" foreign countries.

The White House significantly toughened its stance on Syria on Friday, calling for an "immediate end to brutality and violence" and warning President Bashar Assad was leading his nation on a "dangerous path."

White House spokesman Jay Carney issued a statement after Syrian forces killed at least 25 people in nationwide democracy protests and as security forces launched a long-feared crackdown on the northwestern flashpoint town of Jisr al-Shughur.