Regime forces rained shells on the rebel-held central Syrian town of Rastan as violence killed 13 people across the country on Tuesday, a watchdog said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described the bombardment of Rastan as "violent," while activists on the ground said the situation was "tragic."

An Israeli court acquitted former prime minister Ehud Olmert on two key corruption charges on Tuesday while finding him guilty on a lesser charge, media reported.

The Jerusalem district court cleared Olmert on charges of receiving cash-stuffed envelopes and falsely billing trips abroad multiple times, but convicted him on the charge of granting favors to a former colleague during his time as a minister.

The Israeli air force carried out an air raid on the Gaza Strip overnight, in retaliation for a Palestinian rocket attack against southern Israel, a military spokesman said Tuesday.

"An air force plane attacked two bases of Hamas terrorist activity in the southern Gaza Strip," the Israeli armed forces said in a statement.

The United States on Monday called on Iran to release Christian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who was imprisoned in 2009 and condemned to death for converting from Islam to Christianity.

"Pastor Nadarkhani still faces the threat of execution for simply following his faith, and we repeat our call for Iranian authorities to release him immediately," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement.

Egypt's military on Monday said the constitution and the law must be upheld concerning the dissolution of parliament, raising tension after President Mohammed Morsi decided to reinstate the assembly.

The Supreme Council of the Armed forces (SCAF), which ruled Egypt until Morsi's election last month, underlined the "importance of the constitution in light of the latest developments," the official MENA news agency reported.

Moroccan rapper Mouad Belghouat, who was jailed for insulting police, began a 48-hour hunger strike on Monday to protest against the conditions of his detention, a friend told Agence France Presse.

Belghouat's decision came as an appeals court delayed for a third time a review of his one-year jail sentence, with a new hearing postponed from Monday until July 23.

A Bahraini court on Monday ordered the disbanding of a Shiite opposition group, the Islamic Action Association, judicial officials told Agence France Presse.

The group was found guilty of "several violations" including following a "religious ideology that calls for violence" and "not holding the association's convention for more than four years," according to the sources.

Egypt's top court on Monday rejected a decree by President Mohammed Morsi to reinstate the parliament it ruled invalid, setting the president on a collision course with the judiciary and the military that enforced the ruling.

"All the rulings and decisions of the Supreme Constitutional Court are final and not subject to appeal... and are binding for all state institutions," the court said in a statement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Syria needed dialogue between the regime and opposition rather than foreign intervention to ensure a lasting peace.

Egypt's parliament speaker has invited the lower house to convene on Tuesday, MENA state news agency reported, following a presidential decree to reinstate the assembly dissolved by the military.

Saad al-Katatni "has called on parliament to convene at 2:00 pm (12:00 GMT) on Tuesday," MENA said.