Saudi Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz met with Iranian Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi on Monday at a time of strained relations between their countries, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Riyadh has accused Tehran of interfering in neighboring Arab states and warned that its nuclear program could pose a threat to regional security.

Israel's closure of a wooden access ramp to the al-Aqsa mosque compound is tantamount to a declaration of war on Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, Hamas warned on Monday.

"This is a serious step that shows the Zionist scheme of aggression again the al-Aqsa mosque," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told Agence France Presse.

A Yemeni protester was wounded Monday when police dispersed hundreds of demonstrators demanding a secession of southern regions in the capital of former South Yemen, activists said.

Security forces at dawn stormed a camp of tents that southern separatists erected in al-Oroud Square in Aden after they met U.N. envoy Jamal Benomar, activists said.

Israel has approved construction of 40 homes and a farm in two new settler enclaves near the southern West Bank town of Bethlehem, Haaretz daily reported on Monday.

"Israel's military establishment has approved the establishment of a new, permanent neighborhood and a farm near the West Bank settlement of Efrat," the paper said.

Syrians were voting Monday in municipal elections held amid a general strike called by the opposition and as security forces killed another seven people as they pursued a crackdown on dissent.

The elections committee, in a statement received by Agence France Presse, said "voting is proceeding in a democratic spirit," adding that voting turnout was "good." It did not elaborate.

Syrian security forces shot dead at least one person early Monday as they launched a raid in the northwestern province of Idlib, where mutinous soldiers were fighting army troops, a rights group said.

The violence came as pro-democracy activists pushed a campaign of civil disobedience launched Sunday with a general strike across Syria designed to bring down the regime of President Bashar Assad.

A Saudi woman was beheaded Monday after being convicted of practicing sorcery, which is banned in the ultra-conservative kingdom, the interior ministry said.

Amina bint Abdulhalim Nassar was executed in the northern province of Jawf for "practicing witchcraft and sorcery," the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

Twelve alleged al-Qaida militants plus two other inmates have tunneled their way to freedom from a prison in the south Yemen city of Aden, a security official said on Monday.

The prisoners fled through a six-meter tunnel they dug at the western end of Aden's central prison, the official said.

Gaza militants fired a rocket at southern Israel on Monday but it landed in open ground in the Negev desert, injuring nobody, the military said.

"A rocket fell in the Shaar Hanegev region; there were no casualties and no damage," a spokeswoman told Agence France Presse.

Israel has closed a controversial wooden access ramp to the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City on public safety concerns, police said on Monday in a move likely to spark a backlash.

"Based on an order from the city council, they have closed the ramp," police spokeswoman Luba Samri told Agence France Presse, referring to the Western Wall Heritage Foundation which is responsible for the upkeep of the structure, known as the Mughrabi ramp.