The opposition Syrian National Council, meeting in Qatar to broaden its membership, said Tuesday that the "cornerstone" umbrella group should preserve its leading role in any revamp.

SNC chief Abdel Basset Sayda also denounced the failure of the international community to act to end "massacres" being committed by forces loyal to the regime of President Bashar Assad.

Yemeni militiamen backing the government in the south have besieged the residence of a tribal chief suspected of links to al-Qaida upon his return to the region, a local chief said on Tuesday.

Gunmen from the local Popular Resistance Committees have been surrounding since late Monday the house of warlord Tarek al-Fadhli, who has fought in Afghanistan, upon his return to the southern city of Zinjibar, said Hussein al-Waheshi.

Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi arrived in Tripoli on Tuesday for high level talks with Libya's first elected authorities since the ouster of veteran strongman Moammar Gadhafi.

Terzi was welcomed at Meitiga International Airport by Libyan counterpart Mohammed Abdel Aziz, an Agence France Presse photographer said.

A car bomb exploded Tuesday at the entrance to an Iraqi army base as potential new recruits were massed at the gate, killing at least 25 people, security and medical officials said.

The blast, which also left at least 30 people wounded, is likely to raise fresh concerns over the capabilities of Iraq's security forces 11 months after the departure of American troops.

The Israeli foreign ministry on Tuesday slammed Turkey for carrying out what it called a "show trial" of four top former Israeli commanders over a deadly 2010 Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.

"This is not a trial but a show trial and has nothing to do with law and justice," foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told Agence France Presse.

Two car bombs shook the Damascus region on Tuesday, a watchdog said, a day after nearly 250 people died in fighting and bombings in Syria's worst violence since last month's failed ceasefire bid.

One car bomb exploded before dawn in the city of Mudamiya near the capital, causing injuries and significant damage, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have asked to buy more than $7.6 billion in U.S. missile defense technology, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

The orders for the Lockheed Martin-made equipment were detailed in documents posted online late Monday by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which said it had notified Congress of the request.

Israel on Tuesday published tenders for 1,213 new homes in settlement neighborhoods of east Jerusalem, and re-offered tenders for another 72 homes in a West Bank settlement, an Israeli NGO said.

Peace Now, citing tenders published by the Israeli housing ministry, said tenders for 607 units in Pisgat Zeev and 606 units in Ramot, both in east Jerusalem, were offered, along with 72 re-offered in the settlement of Ariel.

Three Israeli soldiers were injured on Tuesday morning by an explosion along the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said.

"An IDF soldier was moderately wounded and two others lightly wounded while on a routine activity earlier this morning, adjacent to the security fence in the southern Gaza Strip," the military said in a statement.

Ankara on Monday said it had never authorized a shipment of weapons which authorities in Yemen seized at the weekend and is believed to have originated in Turkey.

"We certainly have not authorized such a shipment of weapons. It is not thinkable to OK such arms exports to countries where conflict risks are high and where it could result in more deaths," the foreign ministry said in a statement.