Japan's foreign ministry on Wednesday said it would close its embassy in Syria, citing deteriorating security conditions amid a brutal crackdown on anti-government protestors.

"We have decided to temporarily close the Japanese embassy in Syria as of today due to worsening public safety conditions in Syria, including the capital Damascus," a ministry statement said.

Iraq's security forces locked down key routes in Baghdad on Wednesday after the country suffered its deadliest violence in two months in the run-up to a landmark Arab summit due next week.

The measures came a day after a wave of nationwide gun and bomb attacks killed 50 people and left 255 others wounded on the anniversary of the start of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

U.N.-Arab League special envoy on Syria Kofi Annan is set to return to Damascus "very soon,” United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday.

His announcement came a day after Western powers agreed to change a proposed U.N. Security Council statement on Syria after Russia refused to back any "ultimatum" to President Bashar Assad.

At least 30 people were killed in Syria on Tuesday as the U.N. Security Council discussed the violence and long-time Damascus ally Russia said President Bashar al-Assad had "made a lot of mistakes."

Moscow's comments came as U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan and Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi called for a united international stand on the crisis.

Russia said Tuesday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was "making a lot of mistakes" despite repeated calls from Moscow for his troops and rebel forces to cease violence and seek dialogue.

"We believe that the Syrian leadership responded incorrectly to the very first manifestations of the peaceful protests," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Kommersant FM radio in a pre-recorded interview.

Germany will sell Israel a sixth nuclear capable Dolphin-class submarine, Germany's defense minister confirmed on Tuesday after talks in Berlin with his Israeli counterpart Ehud Barak.

"An additional submarine will be delivered to Israel," Thomas de Maiziere told a joint press conference with Barak, adding that Germany would subsidize the cost although he did not say by how much.

A deathly, blood-chilling silence hangs over the nearly deserted streets of Sermin, as a few remaining men await what they are convinced is an inevitable assault by Syrian government forces.

And this would not be the first for Sermin, just eight kilometers east of the rebel stronghold of Idlib that was overrun by loyalist troops last week, and not far from the Turkish border.

The U.N .rights office on Tuesday criticized Bahraini forces for their "disproportionate use of force" as they sought to quell protests, saying their use of tear gas may have led to over 30 deaths.

"We have been receiving worrying reports of the disproportionate use of force by Bahraini security forces, including the excessive use of teargas, the use of birdshot pellets and rubber bullets," said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The leaders of Iran and the United States competed on Tuesday with sharply worded messages for the start of the Iranian new year that highlighted global tensions over Tehran's controversial nuclear program.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned in a speech broadcast live on state television: "We have said that we do not have atomic weapons and we will not build any.

Veteran Yemeni strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh, who quit as president last month under a hard-won transfer of power deal, has threatened to pull his loyalists from a unity cabinet that is another key part of the agreement, a top official said Tuesday.

President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi, elected as Saleh's successor last month in a vote in which his was the only name on the ballot paper, is scrambling to persuade his predecessor not to make good on the threat, the official told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.