Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, who is charged with running a death squad, told Agence France Presse in an interview on Sunday he would not go to Baghdad to stand trial and raised the prospect of fleeing Iraq.

Hashemi, holed up at an official guesthouse of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani in the country's autonomous Kurdish region, acknowledged his guards may have carried out attacks, but he has steadfastly denied any involvement.

The Arab League must bring the U.N. into the effort to stop Syria's bloody crackdown on protesters, the top opposition leader said Sunday, as security forces pressed ahead with raids and arrests around the country.

Burhan Ghalioun, the Paris-based leader of the Syrian National Council, made the plea as Arab League officials were setting up observer teams, part of their plan to end nine months of turmoil that has killed more than 5,000 people, according to the U.N.

Gaza militants have fired two rockets and two mortars at southern Israel, none of them causing any injuries or damage, the Israeli military said on Sunday.

"We identified two rocket launches from Gaza at Israel to the Eshkol and Shaar Hanegev regions Saturday night," a spokeswoman told Agence France Presse, adding two mortars were fired at Israel the evening before.

Iran stands ready to expand its military and security ties with Iraq, its armed forces chief of staff said Sunday, a week after the exit of U.S. forces from the neighboring Arab country.

General Hassan Firouzabadi hailed the "forced departure" of the U.S. and allied forces that he said "was due to the resistance and determination of the Iraqi people and government," the state Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Jordan said on Sunday it was probing clashes between opposition Islamist demonstrators and government loyalists in a northern city, where dozens, including police, were wounded.

"The government is investigating the clashes that erupted Friday in Mafraq, where citizens and policemen have been attacked," government spokesman Rakan Majali said in published remarks.

In his traditional Christmas message on Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI called for an end to the bloodshed in Syria and said he hoped this year's Arab revolts would aid the "common good."

"Let us turn our gaze anew to the grotto of Bethlehem. The Child whom we contemplate is our salvation! He has brought to the world a universal message of reconciliation and peace," he told thousands of pilgrims in the Vatican.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya will begin a tour on Sunday, his office said, his first exit from Gaza since Israel and Egypt imposed a siege in 2007.

Sources in his office told AFP that Haniya would visit Egypt and Sudan, after which he plans to go to Qatar, Turkey, Tunisia, and Bahrain.

Egypt's judiciary decided on Sunday to free blogger and activist Alaa Abdul Fattah, who has spent the past two months in custody, his sister said.

Mona Abdul Fattah announced on Twitter that a court had decided to "free Alaa," who had been remanded in custody on October 30.

Hundreds of Christian faithful, defying lashing rains and wind, filled the ancient Bethlehem church that marks Jesus' traditional birthplace for Christmas Day Mass on Sunday, even as a blast in a Nigerian church shattered the holiday's message of peace on earth.

Worshippers, dressed in their holiday best and some in the traditional attire of foreign lands, rushed into the Church of the Nativity under the cover of umbrellas, leaving Manger Square, with its 50-foot-tall (15-meter-tall) Christmas tree, deserted. The sanctuary was packed, and the overflow crowd waited eagerly in an arched corridor for a chance to enter.

The opposition Syrian National Council appealed Sunday for the Arab League to immediately send observers to the besieged city of Homs and other hotspots of a bloody crackdown on dissent, as activists said security forces killed 10 civilians across the country.

The call came a day before a first group of Arab League observers is set to arrive in Syria to begin monitoring a deal the 22-member bloc agreed with the government in Damascus aimed at ending nine months of violence.