Clashes pitting backers and opponents of federalism in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi killed one person and wounded at least five on Friday, a medical official said.

"One person was killed and at least five others were wounded," Basma Mohammed told Agence France Presse.

Special envoy Kofi Annan warned of an "escalation" of the Syria conflict into the rest of the Middle East unless it is carefully handled as he called on the U.N. Security Council to unite to put pressure on President Bashar al-Assad.

Annan gave his warning as Turkey told its nationals to leave Syria where thousands took part in new protests against the government. Activists said at least another 15 people were killed.

A Palestinian protester was bitten by an Israeli army attack dog during a protest in the West Bank village Kafr Qaddum west of Nablus on Friday, an Agence France Presse correspondent said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman acknowledged to AFP that a demonstrator was "lightly wounded" by the dog.

Foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said Friday she will maintain the European Union's diplomatic presence in Damascus regardless of decisions taken by member states on their own needs.

"The issue of diplomatic representation in the country is of course under constant review by the member states, but there is no common line at this time," said Ashton's spokesman Michael Mann.

Foreign ministers from Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, meeting in Tunis said Friday the Syrian crisis should be resolved in an "Arab framework" and opposed foreign military intervention in the country.

"We are all against military intervention in Syria, and we want the problem to be resolved in an Arab framework," Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem said after meeting with his Egyptian and Libyan counterparts, Mohamed Amr and Ashour bin Khayyal.

The United States said Friday it is concerned about Iranian cargo flights over Iraq to Syria, saying it has warned Iraq they might contain arms that could be used by Damascus to crush protests.

"Without getting into intelligence matters, we are concerned about the overflight of Iraq by Iranian cargo flights headed to Syria," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe urged the Syrian opposition to stop "tearing itself apart" in an interview published on Friday, in which he also opposed providing Syrian rebels with arms.

"There are some opponents whose attitudes are seriously weakening the opposition -- as long as they continue to tear themselves apart and fight amongst themselves," Juppe said in an interview with French newspaper Le Monde.

Syria has vowed to cooperate with U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan while combatting "terrorism," its term for the country's anti-regime revolt, the foreign ministry said on Friday.

"The Syrian government is determined to protect its citizens by disarming the terrorists and continues to search for a peaceful solution to the crisis by cooperating with special envoy Kofi Annan," it said in a letter addressed to the United Nations, carried by state news agency SANA.

Turkey on Friday "strongly" urged thousands of Turkish nationals to leave Syria and said it was considering withdrawing its ambassador from the violence-wracked country.

"Developments in Syria pose serious security risks for our nationals," the foreign ministry said in a statement. "Therefore it is strongly recommended that Turkish nationals currently in Syria leave and return home."

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal arrived in Turkey on Friday to meet with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who advocates cooperation with the Islamist movement, a close aid to the premier said.

"The prime minister will meet with Meshaal at 2:00 pm (1200 GMT)," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.