The International Criminal Court on Tuesday gave Libya until January 23 to mull the possible handing over of ousted leader Moammar Gadhafi’s son Seif al-Islam.

A three-judge bench granted a Libyan request for an extension but said that the three weeks sought by Tripoli "would cause an undue delay in the proceedings and that only a shorter extension is appropriate".

Gunmen opened fire opened fire Tuesday on a hotel in the Egyptian resort of Taba bordering Israel, prompting Israeli tourists to flee, but there were no casualties, security sources said.

The attack was apparently a botched attempt to rob a jewelry store in the hotel, the sources said.

The UAE's foreign minister accused the Syrian regime on Tuesday of not facilitating the job of Arab League observers, lamenting the latest reported attacks on the envoys.

"The job of the observers is getting more difficult day after day ... We do not see a commitment from the Syrian side that would allow them" do their job, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan told reporters in Abu Dhabi.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi on Tuesday denounced attacks on Arab observers deployed in Syria, in which some monitors were wounded, and said he was holding the government in Damascus responsible for their mission.

"The Arab League denounces the irresponsible action and acts of violence against the League's observers," Arabi said in a statement issued by his office.

Israel is preparing to receive Syrian Alawite refugees on the occupied Golan Heights when the regime of President Bashar Assad collapses, Israel's army chief of staff Benny Gantz said on Tuesday.

"On the day the Assad regime falls, it is expected to harm the Alawite clan. We are preparing to receive Alawite refugees on the Golan Heights," he told MPs at the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs and defense, in remarks communicated by a spokesman

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on political and religious leaders in Iraq on Tuesday to prevent sectarian tensions in the country.

"The last thing we want to see in Iraq is a fight between brothers," Erdogan said in televised remarks in a weekly address to his lawmakers in parliament.

Syria's top Muslim cleric called on rebels to lay down their arms while a Christian counterpart hit out at Western sanctions, in sermons aired by state television on Tuesday.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Ahmed Badreddin Hassoun and Greek Orthodox Archbishop Luka al-Khouri were both speaking at an inter-faith memorial service in the capital's Holy Cross Church for 26 people killed in a suicide bombing in Damascus on Friday.

A Tunisian man who set himself on fire to protest unemployment has died, a hospital official said Tuesday, a year almost to the day after a fruit-seller's self-immolation sparked the Arab Spring.

Ammar Gharsalla, a 48-year-old father of three, had been among protestors staging a sit-in outside the Gafsa government office last Thursday to highlight the unemployment problem in the region.

Syrian President Bashar Assad on Tuesday accused foreign parties of seeking to destabilize Syria but stressed that he would not step down over increased demonstrations against him.

"We will declare victory soon," he said in a speech at Damascus University broadcast live on state television.

Kuwait said Tuesday it will not allow stateless people to stage any more demonstrations after having promised to resolve their demands for citizenship.

"The ministry will not allow any processions, gatherings or demonstrations (by stateless), regardless of their nature or aims," the interior ministry said in a statement.