Talks between envoys of the international peacemaking Quartet and Israeli and Palestinian officials in Jerusalem ended with a pledge to introduce "comprehensive proposals" but no deal on new peace talks.

In a statement released late on Wednesday, the peacemaking group, which comprises the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia, said its envoys had met separately with both sides in a bid to kickstart long-stalled negotiations.

The Israeli air force carried out three raids early Thursday on the Gaza Strip after a rocket was launched from the Hamas-controlled territory at southern Israel, witnesses said.

The raids targeted areas east and west of Khan Yunes in the south of the Strip, and a base of Hamas's armed wing the al-Qassam Brigades was hit, they said.

U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford, who was abruptly withdrawn this week because of security threats, hopes to return to Damascus before the end of November, the State Department said Wednesday.

"Let me just say he has bought his Thanksgiving turkey for his embassy staff, and he wants very much to have Thanksgiving dinner for his folks there. So that's our expectation, it will be sometime before Thanksgiving," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

Tunisia's Islamist Ennahda party, leading the vote count after historic polls, has put forward its number two as the next head of government, an executive party member told Agence France Presse on Wednesday.

"Ennahda has informed its partners of its intentions to present the candidacy of Hamadi Jebali (Ennahda's secretary general) for prime minister," party member Nourredine Bhiri said of ongoing coalition talks.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said on Wednesday that his government armed Libya's victorious rebels in their eight-month uprising against Moammar Gadhafi.

"One part of the armament of the forces which entered Tripoli was 100 percent Sudanese," he said in the eastern city of Kassala where he was opening a new Qatari-funded road link to Eritrea.

An Arab League team held "frank" talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday at the start of a bid to mediate with the opposition.

"The meeting with President Assad was frank and friendly and we are going to continue our talks on October 30," said Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani.

Jordan's King Abdullah II said on Wednesday that Arab uprisings had emphasized the need for political reform in the kingdom which would eventually lead to a system of parliamentary government.

"The sensitive regional circumstances and the transformations ... compel us to assert our firm conviction that public participation ... and unwavering commitment to reform are the only way forward," the king said as he opened parliament's second ordinary session.

NATO decided to delay a formal decision to end Libyan air operations until Friday after Libya's new rulers asked for an extension and Russia demanded U.N. consultations, diplomats said.

In the wake of Moammar Gadhafi's death last week, NATO's decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council (NAC), had been expected to formally agree Wednesday to set October 31 as the date to end the seven-month-old air war.

Nine Syrian soldiers, including an officer, were killed on Wednesday by a rocket, probably fired by army deserters, in the flashpoint Hama region, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"Nine servicemen, including an officer of the Syrian regular army, were killed by a rocket, fired by armed men, probably deserters. The soldiers were on a vehicle in al-Hamrat village, on the Hama-Salamiyah road," the Britain-based rights group said.

A new campaign has emerged in Egypt aiming to persuade Egyptians to elect military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi as the next president, despite almost weekly protests calling on the army to go back to barracks.

Tantawi heads the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) which took power when a popular uprising ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February, and has been criticized for stalling reform.