Yemeni troops killed three suspected al-Qaida members during overnight clashes around the southern city of Zinjibar, which was seized by the group in May, a military source said on Saturday.

"Two members of al-Qaida, including a local chief, died when a rocket hit their position in the suburbs of Zinjibar," the source said.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun called on all sides in Syria to stop the violence and said elections should go ahead peacefully after Damascus talks with President Bashar Assad Saturday, state media said.

"The position of China is to call on the government, the opposition and the rebels to halt acts of violence immediately," Zhai said, adding that it was vital that "calm be restored as quickly as possible as that serves the interests of the Syrian people."

Several hundred Iranian exiles arrived at a U.N.-approved site near Baghdad on Saturday, a first step in a process that aims to see them resettled outside Iraq, where they have been based for decades.

The move is part of a December 25 deal between the U.N. and Iraq, reached after extensive talks, under which around 3,400 Iranians opposed to the regime in Tehran are to move from their long-time base, Camp Ashraf, to a new location called Camp Liberty, with the aim of eventually moving them to other countries.

Iraqi Deputy Interior Minister Adnan al-Assadi accused some Arab states he did not identify Friday of helping to fund terrorism, and expressed concern about security at the Syrian border.

"Businessmen from some countries in the region, with the help of their governments, are providing significant funds to terrorist groups in Iraq," Assadi said in an interview with state television.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton denounced the arrest of blogger Razan Ghazzawi, rights campaigner Mazen Darwish and several other Syrian activists, calling Friday for their immediate release.

A statement from her office said she "deplores the arrest on Thursday by Syrian security forces" of Darwish, Ghazzawi and at least 12 others including Darwish's wife.

Dozens of people were hurt in clashes in southeast Yemen between rival demonstrators supporting and opposing Tuesday's presidential election, witnesses said on Friday.

They said the trouble began late on Thursday when activists of the pro-secession Southern Movement, which opposes the election, threw stones and petrol bombs at a sit-in of pro-election activists in Mukalla, the capital of Hadramawt province.

Palestinian militants fired two rockets at southern Israel on Friday evening, causing neither casualties or damage, an Israeli military spokeswoman told Agence France Presse.

"A rocket landed in the Eshkol Regional Council; there was no damage or injuries reported," she said.

Yemeni authorities announced on Friday the arrest of 21 suspected members of al-Qaida in connection with the murder of five people in Bayda province, including two electoral officials.

The five were killed when gunmen opened fire on their car in Bayda, southwest of the capital, on Tuesday.

Libyans celebrated on Friday the first anniversary of the uprising against Moammar Gadhafi with fireworks and slogans, even as their new leader vowed to prevent further instability.

Thousands gathered in Tahrir (Liberation) Square in Benghazi, the city which first rose against Gadhafi and his 42-year regime, after traditional Muslim prayers, waving Libya's new flag and proclaiming the revolution's "birthday."

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said on Friday that reforms have to be synchronized with a return to peace in the unrest-swept country, state media reported.

Assad, in remarks to visiting Mauritanian Prime Minister Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf, said that reforms and a "return to peace" must be concurrent in Syria, according to the official SANA news agency.