Turkish and U.S. officials Thursday began their first "operational planning" meeting aimed at bringing about the end of Syrian President Bashar Assad's embattled regime.

The meeting is expected to coordinate military, intelligence and political responses to the crisis in Syria where a deadly crackdown on peaceful protests that began in March 2011 has according to activists claimed more than 23,000 lives.

Hundreds of suspected Salafist militants attacked the central Tunisia district of Sidi Bouzid overnight, wounding at least seven people, witnesses and a police source said Thursday.

Witnesses told Agence France Presse the assailants came by cars and the police did not intervene to stop the clashes.

As the passengers from battle-ravaged Aleppo disembarked at Yerevan's Zvartnots airport, tearful relatives gripped them tightly in emotional embraces.

"Thank God you've arrived safe and sound!" one cried out.

Israel's foreign ministry on Thursday summoned South Africa's envoy to formally protest Pretoria's decision to place "Occupied Palestinian Territory" labels on goods from Jewish settlements.

Foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said ambassador Ismail Coovadia was summoned to the ministry in Jerusalem where "we made a formal protest and discussed the issue in depth."

Syria is ready to cooperate with new U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, the deputy foreign minister said on Thursday, adding he hoped the veteran Algerian diplomat would help pave the way for "national dialogue".

"We have informed the United Nations that we accept the appointment of Mr. Brahimi," Faisal Muqdad told reporters in Damascus.

With the thud of heavy machine guns, the whipping sound of sniper rounds and the smell of cordite filling the midnight darkness, the rebels almost didn't notice her veiled figure turning the corner.

They dragged her behind the thick limestone wall of a centuries-old house in Jdeideh, one of the most recent frontlines in the war-ravaged Syrian city of Aleppo, and asked her for identification.

Syrian military planes crossed into Iraqi airspace on Thursday in order to carry out air strikes against the border town of al-Bukamal, which is held by rebel forces, Iraqi officials said.

"Syrian combat aircraft crossed into Iraqi airspace at about 8:00 am (0500 GMT) for about 15 minutes, and targeted al-Bukamal in Syrian territory," a lieutenant colonel in the Iraqi border guards said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Syrian civilians are facing "horrific" violence as the battle for the commercial capital Aleppo rages, Amnesty International said Thursday, lashing out primarily at regime troops for launching indiscriminate attacks.

"The use of imprecise weapons, such as unguided bombs, artillery shells and mortars by government forces has dramatically increased the danger for civilians," Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International Senior Crisis Response Adviser, who recently returned from Aleppo, said in a statement.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is waging "diplomatic terror" against Israel, which is as dangerous as the violent threat posed by Hamas, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Thursday.

It was his second personal attack on the Palestinian president in days and came after he called for world powers to force elections in the Palestinian Authority in a bid to replace him and revive the stagnant peace process.

Egyptian editor Islam Afifi, who is facing charges of spreading false news and was remanded in custody Thursday, will be freed following a presidential decree scrapping preventive detention in the case of publishing crimes.

"Al-Dustour chief editor Islam Afifi will be released according to the (presidential) decree," which scraps preventive detention in the case of publishing crimes, said Yasser Ali, spokesman of President Mohammed Morsi.