Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem slammed Thursday what he called “the statement of a U.S. State Department source that encourages the Arab countries to join the political and economic boycott against Syria,” in a letter he sent to Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi.

The aforementioned statement “exceeds the limits of the AL Charter and the bases of the joint Arab action,” Syria’s official news agency SANA quoted Muallem as saying.

Thirty people were killed Thursday in Syria, among them five children and an infant and six regular army soldiers who were shot dead by suspected army defectors, the Local Coordination Committees announced.

Earlier on Thursday, a rights group said a young girl and six soldiers were among 12 Syrians killed during the day as security forces pressed a crackdown on protests and in clashes between troops and army deserters.

Libya's former Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi will get a "fair trial" when he is extradited from Tunisia to face Libyan justice, interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil told Agence France Presse on Thursday.

"First of all we will ensure a secure place for him, then we will guarantee a fair trial, despite the acts he has perpetrated against the Libyan people," said Abdel Jalil, chairman of Libya's National Transitional Council.

One person died and several were hurt in clashes Thursday in the flashpoint city of Taez and the capital Sanaa during protests calling for Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh's prosecution, medics and witnesses said.

The bloodletting came as U.N. envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar arrived in Sanaa in an attempt to resolve the political crisis that has thrown the country into a spiral of violence in which hundreds have died since January.

Iran "will respond with full force" to any attack -- or even any threat of military action -- the country's supreme leader said Thursday, after Israel warned the world must act to prevent Tehran getting nuclear weapons.

Iran "will respond with full force to any aggression or even threats in a way that will demolish the aggressors from within," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told students at a Tehran military college, according to his official website.

Syria's Grand Mufti Ahmed Badreddin Hassoun, the country's highest religious authority, said on Thursday that Der Spiegel magazine misinterpreted his statements concerning Syrian President Bashar Assad’s resignation after he has implemented reforms.

“I only intended to explain the developments in Syria,” Hassoun wrote on his website.

Two dissident soldiers and two policemen were killed overnight in separate attacks in the country's restive south, army and security officials said on Thursday.

"A landmine planted by al-Qaida militants exploded Wednesday overnight killing two soldiers from the 119th Brigade commanded by dissident General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar," an army official told Agence France Presse.

Israel's Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an appeal lodged by former president Moshe Katsav, upholding his conviction on charges of rape and other sexual offences, press reports said.

The court also rejected an appeal against the seven-year sentence which he was handed in March.

An Egyptian pipeline delivering gas to Israel and Jordan was hit by two explosions Thursday, Egypt's security services and state media said, the seventh time it has been attacked by militants this year.

A first blast occurred around 1:00 am (23:00 GMT Wednesday) 40 kilometers west of the town of al-Arish in the north of the Sinai peninsula, a security source said.

Western nations on Wednesday condemned opponents of UN action against Syria with France accusing many Security Council powers of "indifference" toward killings being carried out by government forces.

A Security Council debate on protecting civilians reopened diplomatic wounds over the NATO airstrikes in Libya as well as the failure to agree to a stance on President Bashar al-Assad's deadly crackdown in Syria.