Iran on Monday said it backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's decision to start implementing an Arab League plan to quell the violence in his country by finally letting in observers.

But Tehran suggested it was not entirely happy with the pressure Arab states had brought to bear on Damascus, with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad saying their action towards Syria was "like a joke."

The Syrian regime organized a show of support on Monday as expectations rose that it was finally set to admit observers to monitor implementation of an Arab deal to end nine months of bloodshed.

Hundreds of supporters of President Bashar Assad gathered in Sabaa Bahrat Square in the city center chanting slogans in support of their beleaguered leader and against the sanctions ordered by the Arab League.

Syria finally gave its agreement Monday to an Arab observer mission to monitor a deal to end nine months of bloodshed, ending weeks of prevarication that had prompted the Arab League to adopt sanctions.

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Maqdad and Arab League Assistant Secretary General Ahmed Ben Helli inked the document at League headquarters in Cairo, an Agence France Presse correspondent reported.

Syria has released Syrian-American blogger Razan Ghazzawi on bail two weeks after her arrest as she was heading to Jordan to attend a conference on press freedoms, a media rights group said on Monday.

"Razan Ghazzawi was released from detention at 10:30 pm (2030 GMT) Sunday on bail of 15,000 Syrian pounds (around 300 dollars)," the Syrian Centre for Media and Free Expression said on its website.

Unidentified assailants torched three cars in the West Bank village of Beitin, north of Ramallah, early Monday, police said, in a possible revenge attack by extremist Jews.

"Police are searching for the suspects -- it's not clear exactly who was behind it -- and the investigation continues," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Agence France Presse.

Top U.S. diplomat Hillary Clinton called on Egyptians to refrain from violence Sunday after a third straight day of deadly clashes in Cairo.

"I urge Egyptian security forces to respect and protect the universal rights of all Egyptians, including the rights to peaceful free expression and assembly," a "deeply concerned" Clinton said in a statement.

Israel on Sunday freed 550 Palestinian prisoners, completing the second phase of the deal which saw Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit freed in October, Palestinians said.

Officials in the West Bank city of Ramallah said that the main contingent of freed prisoners entered the city aboard a fleet of buses at around 10:00 pm (2000 GMT), where thousands of well-wishers awaited them at the Palestinian presidential headquarters.

Egypt's largest Islamist parties claimed the lead in the second round of a multi-stage legislative election, confirming them as them as front-runners in the first post-revolution parliament.

The second round of elections which took place in nine provinces over two days saw a 67 percent turnout, election commission chief Abdul Moez Ibrahim told reporters.

Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali said he will submit the lineup of his new cabinet on Monday, the first freely elected government since the north African country's popular uprising.

"The final makeup of the government will be presented on Monday afternoon to President Moncef Marzouki before being submitted for approval by the constituent assembly on Wednesday or Thursday," Jebali said, quoted by the official TAP news agency.

Bahraini security forces on Sunday dispersed several hundred Shiite demonstrators who gathered outside the capital Manama for the fourth day in a row, an Agence France Presse correspondent said.

Riot police stormed a roundabout on the Budaiya highway where men and women had gathered and chanted slogans against the government of the Sunni-ruled kingdom.