Regime forces have retaken the village of Eastern Bweida from insurgents, Syrian state television said on Saturday, four days after the nearby rebel bastion of Qusayr fell to the army and Hizbullah.

"Our heroic troops have restored safety and security in Eastern Bweida," the channel said.

An Egyptian court in the retrial of fallen dictator Hosni Mubarak for alleged complicity in the killings of protesters barred lawyers in civil cases from the proceedings at a brief session on Saturday.

Presiding judge Mahmoud al-Rashidi adjourned the court to Monday, shortly after opening the second hearing in Mubarak's retrial, a criminal case.

Iran on Saturday condemned a deadly attack the day before in neighboring Iraq, in which at least 14 Iranian Shiite pilgrims were killed, the official IRNA news agency said.

"Iran condemns this indiscriminate terrorist act, which is contrary to Islamic and human values," it cited foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi as saying.

The United Nations scrambled Friday to find fresh troops for its beleaguered Golan Heights peacekeeping force, which Russia said is in "dire straits" as it offered to help.

President Vladimir Putin said Russian troops could replace almost 380 soldiers that Austria says it will withdraw from the ceasefire zone between Israel and Syria because of the increased danger from the Syrian civil war.

An Austrian man, arrested by Syrian intelligence in Aleppo in December while distributing aid, has been freed and was on his way back to Austria, his family said Friday.

Jamal Orabi, a 47-year-old dual Syrian and Austrian citizen, was now in Istanbul on his way back to Vienna, where he was expected on Saturday, the humanitarian group Humanic Relief and a nephew of Orabi told the Austria Press Agency.

Tunisia turned away on Friday eight Muslim preachers who had come from the Gulf to deliver sermons across the country, the interior ministry said on its Facebook page.

"The ministry... has banned the entry of eight people who had come from the Gulf to to carry out religious activities," the statement read, without giving any further details.

Russia on Friday agreed to a U.N. Security Council statement that demanded that its ally Syria allow humanitarian access to the border town of Qusayr.

The British-drafted statement, agreed after Russia had blocked a virtually identical statement at the weekend, called for "immediate, safe and unhindered" access to Qusayr.

Syrian regime forces sought Friday to follow up on their victory in the key town of Qusayr near the Lebanon border by sending reinforcements to battle rebels in Homs and the northern province of Aleppo.

Government forces were also trying to mop up final pockets of rebel resistance north of Qusayr, the town which it retook Wednesday bolstered by Hizbullah fighters.

A Sunni Muslim union headed by influential cleric Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi on Friday called for a "Day of Rage and Support" for rebels fighting Syrian regime troops backed by a Shiite axis.

The Association of Muslim Scholars urged its millions of supporters to demonstrate, stage peaceful sit-ins, make speeches and pray for the Syrian rebels on Friday, June 14.

The United Nations on Friday launched a record $5.2-billion aid appeal to fund operations in Syria and neighboring nations, saying the number of people affected by the country's brutal conflict was set to spiral.

The sum by far overshadows the $2.2 billion (1.7 billion euros) the U.N. sought in 2003 to help cope with the crisis sparked by the war in Iraq.