A German journalist is being held by Syrian forces in the northern battlefield city of Aleppo, a Berlin newspaper reported online Monday, citing his call for help via a mobile phone text message.

Armin Wertz, an Indonesia-based veteran reporter writing for German and Asian media, had entered the conflict-torn country from neighboring Turkey in early May, said the Tagesspiegel daily, for which he works on a freelance basis.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday to discuss the Syria crisis, the Russian foreign ministry announced.

"Ban Ki-moon will travel to Russia from May 16 to 19" and will hold talks Friday on "questions of international importance, in particular the crisis in Syria," the ministry said in a statement Monday.

The United States has moved military forces closer to Libya since the Benghazi attack so they will be ready to respond to threats against diplomatic personnel, a Pentagon spokesman said Monday.

"We are prepared to respond if necessary, if conditions deteriorate or if we were called upon," spokesman George Little told reporters.

Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi warned on Monday of the possibility of Syria breaking up and its conflict spilling across the Middle East unless a political solution can end the bloodshed.

"God forbid, if there was a void, or disintegration, in Syria, this crisis would spill over into all countries in the region," said Salehi, whose country is a close ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Despite a flurry of diplomatic activity aiming to end a war that has claimed more than 80,000 lives, Russia still shows no signs of abandoning its support for the regime of Bashar Assad.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, British Prime Minister David Cameron and now Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have all found time to meet President Vladimir Putin in the last few days in a new effort to find an international consensus.

A powerful car bomb exploded Monday near a hospital in the Libyan city of Benghazi, killing and wounding dozens in what officials said was the first such attack on civilians since Moammar Gadhafi's ouster.

Officials gave contradicting death tolls, however, as information trickled in about the devastating bombing which destroyed a restaurant and damaged cars and buildings near Al-Jala hospital in the center of Benghazi.

The cousin and former aide of slain Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi appeared in court on Monday charged with the attempted murder of Egyptian police officers, Agence France Presse reported.

Ahmed Qaddaf al-Dam denied the charges which also included possessing unlicensed weapons and resisting arrest.

Vandals believed to be Jewish extremists desecrated graves and damaged property in a Palestinian village in the West Bank on Monday, Palestinian and Israeli officials said.

Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official responsible for the northern West Bank, told Agence France Presse that vandals entered the village of Al-Sawiya, south of Nablus in the early hours of the morning.

Iraq's chief prosecutor called on parliament on Monday to replace President Jalal Talabani, who has been receiving treatment in Germany for almost five months, but MPs rejected the appeal.

Ghadanfar Hammud al-Jassem made the call in a letter to parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, citing Article 72 of the Iraqi constitution, which requires a new president to be elected if the post "becomes vacant for any reason."

Syria's opposition will consult with backers Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey before it decides whether to take part in a peace conference proposed by the United States and Russia, its acting chief said Monday.

"It is too early to decide whether or not we will take part, because the circumstances of this conference are not yet clear. There is no agenda or calendar yet," said the opposition National Coalition's acting head George Sabra.