A group of Salafists disrupted classes on Monday at a university west of the capital Tunis, demanding a stop to mixed-sex classes and for female students to wear full face veils, officials said.

"A group of Salafists, dressed like the Afghans, have been camped in front of my office since early afternoon," Habib Kazdaghli, the dean of faculty at the University of Manuba, told Agence France Presse.

Turkey may consider setting up a buffer zone on its border in coordination with the international community in the event of a massive exodus of refugees from Syria, its foreign minister said on Tuesday.

"We are preparing for every scenario," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told Kanal 24 television channel when asked whether Turkey was mulling the creation of a buffer zone.

Russia on Tuesday urged an end to "ultimatums" against its Middle East ally Syria after the approval of Arab League sanctions and a call from Washington and the EU for an immediate end to violence.

"Right now, the most important thing is to stop acting by means of ultimatums and try to move toward political dialogue," Interfax quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying.

Egyptian polling stations opened for a second day on Tuesday after a mostly smooth start and large turnout in the first election since the fall of Hosni Mubarak.

Up to 40 million voters are being asked to choose a new parliament, in a three stage process that will end in January.

Turkey plans to bypass Syria for regional trade if conditions in the neighboring country deteriorate, the country's transport minister said on Tuesday.

"If conditions aggravate in Syria, we are planning to shift (road) transport to Iraq by opening new gates," Transport Minister Binali Yildirim was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency.

The Arab League has offered to review its sanctions on Syria if Damascus agrees to a plan to send observers to the restive country, a league official told Agence France Presse on Monday.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi has also indicated that the 22-member organization, which agreed a raft of sanctions on Sunday, would be willing to slightly modify the observers' mission.

The United States and the European Union on Monday called on the Syrian government "to end violence immediately" in a joint statement issued after White House talks.

"We call on the Syrian government to end violence immediately, permit the immediate entry of human rights observers and international journalists, and allow for a peaceful and democratic transition," the statement said.

Syrian regime forces and militiamen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad killed nine civilians across the country on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Among the dead were six civilians killed in the flashpoint central province of Homs, one in Hama and two cut down by powerful machineguns in Rankuss near Damascus, said the London-based Observatory.

An Iraqi member of parliament was wounded and at least two other people killed on Monday in a mortar attack near parliament in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, an MP and security officials said.

"A mortar round landed near parliament's car park. One colleague, (MP) Muayid al-Tayyeb, was wounded," MP Ali al-Shila told Agence France Presse.

Five Emirati Internet activists, jailed for up to three years on charges including insulting the Gulf state's leaders, have been pardoned, their lawyer said on Monday.

"An official has informed me that a presidential pardon has been issued to release them," Mohammed al-Roken told Agence France Presse a day after the five activists were sentenced by the Federal Supreme Court.