Syria's opposition umbrella group met Sunday in a bid to name a prime minister-in-exile, a day after the Damascus government ruled out any calls for the ouster of Bashar Assad.

The diplomatic face-off came as a couple and their three children were killed in regime air strikes on a village in Damascus province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Anisa Makhlouf, the mother of President Bashar Assad, has left the war-torn country and joined her daughter in Dubai, Syrian expatriates in the United Arab Emirates and an activist said on Sunday.

Makhlouf has been living next to her daughter, Bushra, the only sister of Assad, in Dubai since around 10 days, Syrian expatriates told Agence France Presse.

Israeli soldiers headed to the polls on Sunday, two days ahead of a general election, the military said, as politicians made last-ditch appeals before nationwide voting gets underway on January 22.

The army said that the first military ballot boxes went into action at the Defense Ministry's massive Tel Aviv headquarters on Saturday for the benefit of "officers and soldiers unable to vote on Tuesday because of operational activity."

Five members of one family were killed in air raids on a town in Damascus province on Sunday, as Syrian warplanes bombarded a battleground town southwest of the capital, a watchdog said.

A couple and their three children were among seven civilians killed in air strikes on the village of Baraka, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that the toll may rise as a number of people were buried under debris.

The leaders of Syria's main opposition National Coalition will meet in Paris on January 28 along with representatives of countries supporting them, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Sunday.

Speaking on Europe 1 radio, Fabius provided no other details of the meeting.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem has rejected the idea that President Bashar Assad will be ousted, telling state television that those who demand his removal want only bloodshed in the country.

Muallem said late on Saturday that the United States and Russia were unable to agree on Syria "because they do not agree on what is meant by 'period of transition'."

Three U.S. drone strikes killed nine suspected members of Al-Qaida in the Yemen province of Marib, a tribal chief and witnesses said on Sunday.

One raid late on Saturday targeted a vehicle transporting four suspected members of the jihadist network in Wadi Abida, east of the city of Marib, 170 kilometers (110 miles) east of Sanaa, the tribal source said.

A Yemeni tribunal specializing in terrorism began Saturday the trial of 21 suspected members of al-Qaida, including three Jordanians and an Egyptian, accused of attacks against security forces.

The defendants, who appeared in four separate groups, one comprised of the Jordanians and Egyptian, have been charged with "belonging to a criminal gang linked to al-Qaida to carry out attacks against the state police and the army," the indictment read at the hearing said.

Leading Republican Senator John McCain said on Saturday night that Washington could be doing more to back the "effort" of the Syrian people in ending the regime of President Bashar Assad.

Speaking at the beginning of a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres, McCain recalled his visit to a refugee camp in Jordan earlier that day, "to see the suffering of the Syrian people up close".

Some 200 Palestinians gathered on Saturday at a new encampment in a West Bank village, protesting for the second consecutive day Israel's intention to confiscate land.

"We have settled on the lands of the Beit Iksa village to prevent its confiscation by the Israeli army," Osama Zayed, village resident and one of the organizers of the initiative, told AFP.