Qatar has decided to close its embassy in Sanaa for the time being over the embattled Yemeni president's rejection of a Gulf transition plan, the official QNA news agency reported on Friday.

"The state of Qatar is following with concern developments in the situation in Yemen... and has decided, due to the rejection of initiatives and appeals for a political solution, to temporarily close its embassy in Sanaa and recall its diplomatic personnel," QNA quoted an official spokesman as saying.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil al-Arabi was unanimously elected Arab League chief on Sunday to succeed Amr Moussa, embarking on a challenging task as political upheaval sweeps the region.

The surprise announcement of his candidacy came after Egypt withdrew diplomat Mustafa al-Fikki from the race just moments before voting for the head of the 22-member body was due to start.

A Middle East Airlines plane landed at Beirut airport on Friday morning bringing 95 Lebanese who have escaped the violence in the Ivory Coast.

The plane had 244 people on board.

Gulf Arab foreign ministers were to meet Sunday in the Saudi capital to discuss Iranian interference after Arab world unrest spilled over into some of the region's Western-backed monarchies.

Abdul Latif al-Zayani, the Gulf Cooperation Council's new secretary general, condemned "Iran's meddling in the internal affairs of GCC countries" on the eve of the meeting, saying it "threatened security and stability in the region".

The West intervened in Libya after the Arab League, many of whose members also face revolts, failed to live up to its duty to protect civilians, Qatar's emir said in an interview broadcast on Thursday.

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani told Al-Jazeera television, based in Doha, he hoped the 22-member organization would now step up and meet its responsibility "amidst the ongoing changes" sweeping the region.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has reportedly held a telephone conversation with Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri, the first contact between the two men since the Druze leader named Najib Miqati as premier-designate more than two months ago.

Pan-Arab daily al-Hayat quoted informed sources as saying on Tuesday that Jumblat called Hariri and stressed to him the need to return to the national dialogue table.

Paintings acquired by shadowy anonymous buyers paying record prices now hang in the light of day in Qatar in the world's first museum devoted to modern Arab art.

The masterpieces are displayed among other treasures making a collection of almost 6,500 pieces in Mathaf (museum in Arabic), which has gathered works of Arab modern art masters previously scattered among private collections and national museums.

The United States is conducting a manhunt for a previously unknown group believed to be involved in the planning of the 9/11 attacks, according to a US cable published in Wednesday's Telegraph newspaper.

In the memo, leaked by the WikiLeaks website, a US official in Qatar told the Department for Homeland Security in Washington that three Qatari men were under suspicion of conducting surveillance operations on the attack sites.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman stressed that U.N. Security Council members have expressed their keenness on seeing a Lebanese commitment to international resolutions following the formation of a new government led by Caretaker PM Najib Miqati.

Feltman told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in remarks published Friday that his talks with French officials in Paris touched on the developments in Lebanon. Security Council members have expressed to him their keenness on Lebanon’s commitment to resolutions 1701 and 1757, he said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Thursday held phone talks with Qatar's Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani on the political crisis in Lebanon, Turkey's foreign ministry announced in a statement.

The two men "exchanged points of view regarding the crisis in Lebanon and efforts made to form a new government."