Three European women went on trial in Tunis on Wednesday for holding a topless anti-Islamist protest, and their French lawyer said he was confident they would escape prison despite the threat of jail sentences.

Pauline Hillier and Marguerite Stern from France, and Josephine Markmann from Germany arrived in court around 0930 GMT wearing the traditional Tunisian headscarf, or safsari.

Egypt's state prosecutor on Wednesday referred 12 activists to trial, including a prominent dissident, for allegedly inciting violent clashes outside the ruling Muslim Brotherhood's headquarters, their lawyer said.

The activists include Alaa Abdel Fattah, already facing trial for allegedly torching the offices of a candidate in last June's presidential election that brought Islamist Mohamed Morsi to power.

Militants set up a fake checkpoint in western Iraq and ambushed a convoy of 14 border policemen on Wednesday, killing all of them and setting fire to the bodies of two of them, officials said.

The checkpoint was set up along the main highway connecting Iraq to Saudi Arabia, with the attack taking place near the town of Nukhaib.

Saudi authorities beheaded by the sword on Wednesday a Pakistani convicted of smuggling heroin, the interior ministry said.

Wajid Ali Zarnoosh was found guilty of trafficking heroin into Saudi Arabia, the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

France will not intervene unilaterally in Syria, the government said Wednesday after Paris stated there was "no doubt" that the regime in the war-torn country had used deadly sarin gas.

"France will take no unilateral and isolated decision... It is now up to the international community," government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem told reporters in response to a question on a possible military intervention in Syria.

Pope Francis on Wednesday encouraged attempts by the international community to organize a highly-anticipated Syria peace conference and called for greater humanitarian aid for refugees.

"In recent weeks the international community has reaffirmed its intention to promote concrete initiatives to bring about a fruitful dialogue designed to bring an end to the war," he said.

Israel has struck a deal to deport up to 2,000 illegal Eritrean immigrants to an unnamed African country in return for supplying it with military aid, the Yediot Aharonot newspaper said on Wednesday.

The paper said that, under an agreement in principle, the country will take 1,500-2,000 Eritreans currently in Israel in exchange for military, technological and agricultural aid.

U.S., Russian and U.N. diplomats gathered in Geneva Wednesday to plan a new international conference aimed at ending the conflict in Syria, as the regime scored a major victory by taking the strategic town of Qusayr.

Joining U.N. peace envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi at the table were Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman.

Iran congratulated the Syrian army and people on Wednesday for their victory over rebels after seizing the strategic town of Qusayr, Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said.

Tehran "congratulates the victory of the Syrian army and people over the 'takfiri' terrorists," Abdollahian said, using a term for Sunni militants who comprise the majority of the country's rebels.

Tens of thousands of Shiite Muslims pilgrims thronged a shrine in Baghdad on Wednesday for a ritual mourning ceremony amid a surge in violence that has sparked fears of a new all-out sectarian war.

Security forces effectively shut down much of Baghdad, closing off major roads and limiting what cars could be on the streets, to protect against attacks after nationwide violence rose last month to its highest level since 2008.