Russia said on Friday that it had not changed and would not change its controversial stance on Syria, after a top Russian diplomat said the defeat of the Syrian regime was possible.

"We have never changed our position (on Syria) and we never will," foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.

Moroccan Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane said Thursday the kingdom would not tolerate the media implicating the king in political party rivalry, in reference to the withdrawal of an AFP journalist's accreditation.

The government decided to suspend Omar Brouksy's press accreditation on October 4, in response to a story he wrote that referred to the participation in a Tangiers by-election of candidates "close to the royal palace."

Israel's High Court ordered the military on Thursday to reconsider the route of a portion of its security barrier, which was to pass through the West Bank village of Battir, an environmental NGO said.

"The High Court this afternoon... ordered the military to present an alternative plan within 90 days," the Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) group said.

The jihadist al-Nusra Front claimed on Thursday that two of its men were responsible for a deadly suicide attack on the Syrian interior ministry the day before, via its official Twitter account.

"Thank God, we targeted the interior ministry building in Kfar Sousa district in Damascus at 5:30 pm on Wednesday, December 12," the extremist group Tweeted, adding that fighting had erupted inside the ministry.

Spain announced Thursday it had seized 28 million euros ($37 million) in financial products, luxury cars and buildings linked to ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt requested Spain's help under U.N. anti-corruption conventions to find and block assets owned by Mubarak, his family, top aides and their related companies, a national police statement said.

Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime appears likely to fall within weeks, a senior minister in Iraq, whose country has avoided publicly taking sides in Syria's conflict, told AFP on Thursday.

"There is a real acceleration regarding the international community focusing on Syria... real concern about the using of chemical weapons," Finance Minister Rafa al-Essawi said on the sidelines of a meeting with the International Monetary Fund in Amman.

Israel's attorney general on Thursday charged Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman with fraud and breach of trust, just over five weeks before a snap election, but dropped more serious allegations against him.

"After examining the file, I have arrived at the conclusion that there is insufficient evidence to charge him in the first case and have decided to close it," Yehuda Weinstein said in a statement.

"I am not a mercenary," said a Spanish former air force officer who left family and a spiraling economic crisis behind at home to travel to Syria and train insurgents fighting troops loyal to President Bashar Assad.

"I could see on television what was happening in Syria... I've never been able to handle watching children get killed without reacting," said Luis Munar, who entered Syria via the Bab al-Hawa border crossing on the Turkish frontier.

Thousands of Palestinians attended a rare Hamas rally in the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Thursday, celebrating the group's "victory" over Israel in Gaza.

The rally is the first time that the West Bank's ruling Palestinian Authority -- which is dominated by the Fatah faction, Hamas's bitter rival -- have allowed such a gathering since 2007.

A former Syrian officer who served in a battalion specializing in surface-to-surface missiles told AFP on Thursday regime forces had fired Scuds three days ago, but the government has denied this.

First Lieutenant Aaraba Idriss said he is still in contact with officers and members of his former Battalion 57, part of Brigade 155, despite defecting 10 months ago.