Air France cancelled its Paris-Damascus flight on Monday because of unrest linked to ongoing protests against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.

"Flight AF-570 is cancelled because of the situation in Syria," a spokesman told Agence France Presse, saying no decision had yet been taken on flights later in the week.

A Palestinian student was in critical condition on Monday after being hit in the head when Israeli troops broke up a protest near Ramallah, medical and security sources said.

Palestinian security sources said the student, 20-year-old Mohammed Abu Awad, was hit in the head by a bullet during a demonstration near the Atara checkpoint, five kilometers north of Ramallah.

Russia will meet with foreign ministers of Arab states to discuss the Syria crisis in Cairo on March 10, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.

"I especially value today's chance to prepare for a meeting of the foreign ministers of Russia and the Arab League states that will be held in Cairo on March 10," news agencies quoted Lavrov as saying after talks with his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in the U.S. capital late Sunday for talks with U.S. President Barack Obama on Iran's nuclear ambitions and how to deal with them.

The plane carrying the Israeli leader and his aides touched down at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington at about 11:05 pm local time (0405 GMT Monday).

An attack by al-Qaida extremists on troops in Yemen's restive south sparked fierce clashes in which at least 103 soldiers and 25 militants were killed, medics and military officials said on Monday.

"The toll from the battles between the army and Qaida militants ... has risen to at least 103" soldiers, a military official said.

Suspected al-Qaida gunmen, some wearing army uniforms, raged through a western Iraq city on Monday in a pre-dawn shooting spree that killed 27 policemen, including two officers killed execution-style.

The assault, launched at about 2:00 am (23:00 GMT on Sunday), saw insurgents dressed in military uniforms simultaneously attacking two checkpoints in the east and west of Haditha before storming other security posts and raiding the homes of the two officers.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal on Sunday urged Moscow to "advise" its ally Syria to stop its deadly crackdown against dissent.

"Unfortunately, international efforts have failed and we have not seen results to stop the bloodshed and massacres in Syria," he told a news conference in the Saudi capital.

Israel has offered to send humanitarian aid to Syrian civilians affected by the regime's crackdown on protests through the International Committee of the Red Cross, the foreign ministry said on Sunday.

"Israel's foreign ministry has offered to transfer humanitarian aid to the people of Syria through the international Red Cross," the ministry said in a statement.

An Israeli court decided Sunday to shorten the administrative detention of a Palestinian woman freed in a prisoner swap with Israel and refusing food since she was re-arrested, her lawyer said.

Hanaa al-Shalabi has been on hunger strike since the day of her arrest on February 16, when she was originally ordered detained without trial for six months.

Israel "shall prevail" if forced to fight Iran, "an evil, cruel and morally corrupt regime" bent on controlling the Middle East, Israeli President Shimon Peres said in Washington Sunday.

His speech to a powerful pro-Israel lobby charged up the atmosphere for talks Monday between U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will tackle the perceived nuclear threat from Iran.