An Egyptian protester on Friday took down the flag at the Israeli embassy atop a Cairo high-rise after protesters destroyed a protective wall outside the building.

He threw the flag, only recently hung after a protester clambered up the building last month and tore it off, down to the street as thousands of protesters cheered him on.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticized Turkey over its plan to host an early-warning radar as part of NATO's missile defense system, the presidency website reported on Friday.

"Turkey is among our brothers and close friends but when the enemies install a missile shield there and acknowledge that this act is against Iran, then one has to be watchful," Ahmadinejad was reported as telling a group of visiting Kuwaiti journalists Thursday evening.

More than 1,000 Jordanians demonstrated in central Amman on Friday to demand "satisfactory" constitutional reforms as parliament debates amendments proposed last month.

"We want to restore our constitutional rights. We demand satisfactory change," read a banner carried by Islamist and leftist demonstrators who marched after midday prayers from al-Husseini Mosque to the nearby city hall.

Thousands of protesters flocked to Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square on Friday for a rally to demand reforms as the ruling military warned it would respond harshly to any violence by activists.

Organizers called the gathering to press Egypt's military rulers to keep their promises of reform after a revolt ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February.

Heavy fighting was underway Friday outside Bani Walid, a stronghold of deposed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, as forces loyal to the interim government were poised for an assault on the town if it does not surrender.

And while world police body Interpol called for the fugitive Gadhafi’s arrest for crimes against humanity, following a request by the International Criminal Court, there were reports a number of his generals had fled Libya.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran is ready to host a meeting of Islamic nations to help its ally Syria solve its political crisis, in remarks posted on his website Friday.

"Iran is ready to host a meeting of Islamic countries to reach a collective understanding in order to help Syria," the website quoted Ahmadinejad telling a group of Kuwaiti journalists.

Syrian troops killed seven people on Friday as protests broke out across the country urging international protection from a deadly government crackdown on dissent, the Syrian Revolution General Commission said.

Opposition-affiliated Flash News Network identified the seven victims as Hassan al-Bakkour (Jabal al-Zawiyah), Mohammed Dakkak (Damascus), Abdul Razzaq al-Masri (Homs), Khaled Kharma (Homs), Ahmed al-Intabli (Homs), Ziad al-Hafian (Homs) and Ali al-Fayyad (Deir al-Zour).

Turkish Prime Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered a blistering attack on the Syrian regime, saying President Bashar Assad had lost his legitimacy and could lose power over his bloody crackdown on dissent.

Syria's crackdown has infuriated world powers, some of which imposed sanctions on the Damascus regime, with fresh pressure piled on Assad from neighboring Turkey.

A former justice minister in Tunisia, Bechir Takkeri, has been detained for alleged witness nobbling in the case of a yacht stolen in France in 2006, the TAP news agency reported Friday.

A judicial source confirmed to AFP that Takkeri was arrested early on Thursday evening.

Syria's opposition leaders said they expected more support from Russia on Friday after President Dmitry Medvedev accused some of those protesting against Bashar Assad of being "terrorists".

The Russian upper house of parliament's foreign affairs chief Mikhail Margelov met a visiting Syrian delegation that included National Organization for Human Rights in Syria head Ammar Qurabi.