The U.N. Security Council will on Wednesday discuss a resolution proposed by European nations condemning the Syrian government's deadly crackdown on opposition protests.

Russia and China have strongly opposed Security Council action on Syria, but Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron said: "If anyone votes against that resolution, or tries to veto it, that should be on their conscience."

Turkey will not close its doors to refugees fleeing the repression in Syria, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday as he expressed his sadness about unrest across the border.

Erdogan, who has become increasingly critical of the President Bashar Assad's regime, also urged authorities in Damascus to demonstrate more tolerance towards its civilians.

Tunisia has postponed its first election following the ouster of strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, set to take place in July, to October 23, interim Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi said Wednesday.

"We have taken into account all the views and have decided to hold the elections on October 23," Essebsi said during a meeting of political parties, regional representatives and civil society.

A Syrian activist says elite government forces are heading to the country's north in possible preparation for an attack on a town where soldiers reportedly joined an anti-government uprising.

The activist, Mustafa Osso, says witnesses told him that long lines of tanks and thousands of troops were on the move toward Jisr al-Shughour on Wednesday.

The health of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is being treated in Riyadh from bomb wounds, is "stable," a Saudi official affirmed Wednesday.

"The condition of the Yemeni president is stable," the official told Agence France Presse requesting anonymity, adding that the veteran leader was waiting for doctors to "appoint a date for cosmetic surgery."

The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip was reopened on Wednesday, ending a four-day closure amid disagreements between Egyptian and Hamas officials.

In a statement, the Hamas manager of the border crossing, Ayub Abu Shaar, said the terminal was reopened "after an agreement with the Egyptian side that all the parties agreed to."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton left here Wednesday for Abu Dhabi to consult with countries backing military action in Libya and looking at more ways to help the Libyan opposition.

The talks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital on Thursday come after President Barack Obama said NATO's mission in Libya was forging "inexorable" advances that meant it was only a matter of time before defiant Moammar Gadhafi's departure.

U.S. President Barack Obama met the crown prince of Bahrain Tuesday, as Washington backed the Sunni royal family's national dialogue to ease the political crisis in the Shiite majority kingdom.

Obama dropped by a meeting between Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa and U.S. National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, in a White House protocol mechanism used to allow the president to meet lower level officials.

Syrian Ambassador to France Lamia Shakkour on Tuesday denied that she had quit her post, in interviews with Syria’s state TV and Al-Arabiya TV, shortly after the France 24 network aired an audio statement purportedly from her saying she was quitting.

In her phone interview with Al-Arabiya, Shakkour said her voice was imitated by the person who called France 24, stressing that she did not speak to any television.

Western powers on Tuesday stepped up moves for a U.N. Security Council vote condemning Syria's crackdown on opposition protests, despite strong opposition from Russia and China.

France, Britain and the United States are considering pressing for a vote by the 15-member Security Council on a resolution that could embarrass Russia and China by forcing them into a veto.