Libyan rebels pushing to cut off Tripoli claimed on Thursday to have seized a key oil refinery which is a major source of fuel for the capital.

A rebel commander said late Wednesday that his fighters had managed to "gain control of the refinery" in the town of Zawiyah, some 40 kilometers west of Tripoli.

Suspected al-Qaida gunmen have seized control of the town of Shaqra in lawless Abyan province, a stronghold of the jihadist network in southern Yemen, a local official said on Thursday.

"al-Qaida fighters have attacked positions of armed tribesmen" tasked with defending the town on Wednesday, and have "managed to drive them away without any resistance," the official told Agence France Presse.

Turkey's military on Thursday confirmed its warplanes has pounded Kurdish rebel targets during cross-border raids into northern Iraq and vowed to continue the "actions" until the guerrilla group is "rendered ineffective."

A military statement said the jets hit 60 suspected rebel targets on the mountainous region near the border with Turkey late Wednesday as well as targets on Mt Qandil, along the Iraqi-Iranian border, where the leaders of the rebel group Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, are believed to be hiding.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman accused Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday of trying to "undermine Israel's legitimacy" by demanding an apology for the 2010 deadly flotilla raid.

"The Turkish prime minister wants to undermine the legitimacy of the state of Israel by demanding an apology that would constitute an admission of guilt and undermine our right to self-defense against attacks from Gaza," he told public radio.

The FBI is investigating allegations that Syria is intimidating and threatening dissidents in the United States, according to U.S.-based Syrians who say federal agents have questioned them.

Three dissidents who met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington two weeks ago told Agence France Presse that FBI agents raised concerns about their safety and asked who might be behind the campaign.

Syria's President Bashar Assad told U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday that military operations against protest towns have "stopped," a U.N. spokesman said, amid new reports of killings and mass arrests.

Ban spoke to Assad by telephone ahead of a U.N. Security Council meeting on Syria when, diplomats said, the U.N. human rights chief is expected to call for the international war crimes court to investigate Assad's deadly crackdown.

The Tunisian government has recalled its ambassador in Syria for "consultations", the foreign ministry announced Wednesday.

"Given the dangerous situation in Syria, the Tunisian government has decided to recall its ambassador in Damascus for consultations," the official TAP news agency quoted the ministry as saying.

Five Kuwaiti MPs Wednesday submitted a draft bill demanding that the government suspend all cooperation agreements and loans with Syria over its bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

Spokesman for the opposition Popular Action bloc, MP Mussallam al-Barrak, said the bill calls for ending all forms of cooperation agreements and memoranda of understanding between Kuwait and Syria.

The United Nations on Wednesday said it had withdrawn about 25 international staff and dozens of families of expatriate workers from Syria because of mounting security fears.

"Due to security concerns, we have taken the decision to relocate about 25 non-essential international staff, plus dependents, from Syria," Farhan Haq, the deputy U.N. spokesman, said in New York.

European countries, the United States and Arab countries will ask the United Nations' top human rights body to hold a special session on the human rights situation in Syria, diplomats told Agence France Presse Wednesday.

"We will submit the request (Wednesday) evening to convene a special session of the Human Rights Council on Monday," according to one European diplomat who wished to remain anonymous.