Egypt's military rulers vowed Thursday that this month's presidential election will be fair and moved to assure the public it would hand over power, a day after a deadly attack on an anti-military protest.

"We are committed to fair elections 100 percent. We don't have any candidates. All the candidates are respectable Egyptians," said Major General Mohammed al-Assar of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces

Yemeni soldiers killed eight al-Qaida militants as they tried to attack an army post in the southern province of Abyan on Thursday, the defence ministry said.

"Eight al-Qaida militants were killed and others wounded" when army forces "foiled their attack" against a military post near Bajdar on the outskirts of the provincial capital Zinjibar, the ministry's website 26sep.net said.

An overwhelming 48 percent of Israelis support the re-election of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a poll published Thursday ahead of an announcement on early general elections.

Netanyahu is expected to announce next week that he will be moving the vote up to September 4 this year from October 2013.

Four students were killed overnight and 28 wounded as Syrian government troops and pro-regime gunmen raided the university campus in the northern city of Aleppo, a monitoring group said Thursday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three of the wounded students were in critical condition and some 200 detained in the raid just after midnight.

Saudi Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz has described as "unacceptable" Iran's attitude towards three islands under its control which Gulf Cooperation Council member UAE claims it owns, a report said.

"I reiterate the kingdom's condemnation to the unacceptable attitude of neighboring Iran that continues to ignore the legitimate right of the United Arab Emirates over its three occupied islands," said Prince Nayef, who is also Saudi Arabia's interior minister.

A Cairo meeting between Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal and an official of the rival Fatah movement made no headway on the formation of a Palestinian national unity government, an official said on Thursday.

Two hours of talks Wednesday night in the Egyptian capital produced "nothing new," the Palestinian official told Agence France Presse, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The trial in absentia of Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, who complains of being politically targeted, was postponed a week on Thursday after his lawyers called for it to be held in a special court.

Hashemi, one of Iraq's top Sunni Arab officials, stands accused along with several of his bodyguards of running a death squad, but left Iraq weeks ago and is not expected to attend the trial.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition has tabled a motion to dissolve parliament and call an early general election on September 4, Israeli media reported on Wednesday.

They said the motion from the coalition's parliamentary chairman, Zeev Elkin, would be debated by the Knesset at the start of next week.

Libya's ruling National Transitional Council on Wednesday criminalized the glorification of slain leader Moammar Gadhafi and his regime.

"Praising or glorifying Moammar Gadhafi, his regime, his ideas or his sons... is punishable by a prison sentence," said the text of the law read out to reporters by a judicial official following a high-level meeting.

Jordan's King Abdullah II on Wednesday swore in a cabinet tasked with pushing for reforms, but analysts said the new government was too "conservative" to deliver.

Led by Prime Minister Fayez Tarawneh, the 30-strong team includes 20 newcomers, including one woman, Nadia Hashem, as state minister for women's affairs.