Israel on Sunday again asked the Supreme Court for more time to evacuate the Migron settlement outpost, which the same court has ordered razed by August 1.

The request for a one-month extension to August 30, a copy of which was seen by Agence France Presse, was backed by the regional military commander who said the need to maintain order in the West Bank during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan justified the delay.

Saudi Arabia has called for an extraordinary summit of Muslim leaders to be held next month to address risks of "sedition" threatening Muslim countries, state news agency SPA reported on Sunday.

Saudi King Abdullah has called for "an extraordinary Islamic solidarity meeting to ensure... unity during this delicate time as the Muslim world faces dangers of fragmentation and sedition," SPA quoted Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal as saying.

Syrian rebel forces occupied a second border post with Turkey on Sunday, three days after taking control of the frontier crossing of Bab al-Hawa, while Syrian forces regained control of a border crossing along the northern frontier with Iraq.

Amateur video distributed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog group showed armed men carrying the flag of the Syrian uprising at the Al-Salama border crossing.

One more Syrian general crossed into Turkey overnight, bringing to 25 the number of generals who have fled the unrest in Syria, a foreign ministry diplomat told Agence France Presse on Sunday.

Turkey has given sanctuary to dozens of army defectors who have formed the Free Syrian Army in opposition to President Bahsar Assad's regime.

A top U.S. official said on Sunday that Washington has given $100 million in aid to Jordan to help host tens of thousands of Syrians who have fled the unrest back home and taken refuge in the kingdom.

U.S. ambassador to Jordan, E. Jones, said that the U.S. aid will also help Jordan meet its growing energy needs in light of the repeated cut-offs occurring from unstable gas supplies from Egypt.

Yemen said on Sunday it has placed its security services on high alert to prevent "terrorist" attacks after it uncovered a plot to launch assaults against security and military checkpoints.

"The ministry of interior has ordered security services across provinces as well as in the capital to increase their alertness in military and security positions to prevent any expected terrorist attacks," the ministry said.

More than 19,000 people have been killed in violence in Syria since the outbreak of an anti-regime revolt last year, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday.

"At least 19,106 people, most of them civilians, have been killed since March last year," the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence France Presse.

Feared forces headed by President Bashar Assad's brother used helicopters Sunday in a new offensive against rebels in Damascus, as clashes also raged in Syria's second city Aleppo, activists said.

The Fourth Brigade headed by Maher Assad was leading the assault in the Damascus neighborhood of Barzeh, triggering an exodus of residents, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

A car bomb in the center of the Iraqi city of Najaf wounded 23 people on Sunday, security and medical officials said, a relatively rare attack in the Shiite holy city.

The 7:00 am (04:00 GMT) attack struck near a restaurant in Najaf's old town, provincial health department spokesman Salim Naama said. Of the 23 wounded, four were seriously hurt, he said.

Attackers on Sunday blew up a gas pipeline in Egypt's Sinai used to export fuel to Israel and Jordan, the 15th such attack since 2011, the official MENA news agency reported.

Witnesses told Agence France Presse they heard a loud explosion and saw flames from the site of the explosion near the northern Sinai town of El-Arish.