Syrian rebels holding dozens of Iranian hostages since August and who threatened to execute them by Sunday have temporarily postponed their killing, a Free Syrian Army spokesman told Agence France Presse.

"Contact has been established with the Turkish authorities as part of indirect negotiations between the FSA and the Syrian and Iranian regimes," said Ahmed al-Khatib, spokesman for the FSA's Military Council in Damascus province.

Police said unknown assailants on Monday threw stones, bottles and garbage at the door of a church in Jerusalem, in the third attack against Christian sites in Israel in recent weeks.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri told Agence France Presse nobody was injured in the attack on the Romanian Orthodox church, St. George's, but that the door was damaged. Police were investigating, she added.

Barack Obama has "failed to lead" in the Middle East and the strained ties between his White House and Israel have emboldened Iran, presidential challenger Mitt Romney declared Monday.

In a major foreign policy speech, Romney warned the president's dithering had increased instability in a region clamoring for U.S. leadership and left both the United States and its Middle East allies less safe than they were.

A draft Egyptian constitution heavily influenced by Islamist conservatives contains articles that could pose a serious threat to basic human rights in post-Mubarak Egypt, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.

A 100-strong panel picked in June and headed by senior judge Hossam al-Ghariani has been tasked with drafting the new constitution, after the old charter was suspended following the 2011 uprising which toppled Hosni Mubarak.

An Algerian court on Monday handed Yaseen Zaid, a human rights activist, a suspended six-month prison sentence and fined him $130 for verbally assaulting policemen, his lawyers said.

"The judge gave Yaseen Zaid a suspended six-month prison sentence and a fine of 10,000 Algerian dinars ($130, 100 euros)," Amine Sidhoum, a member of his legal team, told Agence France Presse.

Tribesmen on Monday kidnapped eight people, among them two Syrians and two Saudis, in southwestern Yemen in a bid to secure the release of two fellow tribesmen, a tribal chief told Agence France Presse.

"Tribesmen from the Subayha tribe intercepted several trucks on the coastal road between the provinces of Lahj and Aden, kidnapping two Syrians, two Saudis and four Yemenis, among them a colonel in the army," said Wahib al-Mansoub.

The opposition Syrian National Council, often accused of failing to represent the diverse blocs fighting the regime, is planning a major makeover at a meeting in Doha next week, a member said Monday.

"The secretariat preliminary meetings will begin on the 15th and 16th of October while the council members will hold a meeting on the 17th," SNC member Louay al-Safi told Agence France Presse.

Iraqi authorities carried out six more death sentences on Monday, bringing to 23 the number of people executed in a week, defying international calls for a halt to Baghdad's use of capital punishment.

A total of 119 people have been executed by Iraq so far this year, according to an Agence France Presse tally based on public justice ministry announcements, already far outpacing 2011 when 68 people were put to death.

Turkey's military Monday struck back at Syrian military positions after a shell fired by the neighboring country landed in a Turkish border area, a Turkish official told Agence France Presse.

Turkey retaliated in kind after the Syrian shell landed in Altinozu district, in southeastern Hatay province, at around 1200 GMT, said the official speaking on condition of anonymity.

Yemen has dismantled a spy ring that included Iranians who entered the country posing as investors looking to set up a factory, the defense ministry said on its website Monday.

The spy cell also had members from Syria and Yemen, the 26sep.net website said, citing an informed source.