The United Nations on Monday suspended operations in Syria and starting withdrawing non-essential staff because of the growing danger from the country's civil war, the U.N. spokesman said.

The United Nations will "suspend its missions within the country until further notice," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday warned Turkey that the NATO deployment of Patriot missiles along its border with Syria could exacerbate tensions.

He met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in an Istanbul summit that failed to yield a common response to Syria's conflict.

Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad al-Maqdessi has defected from President Bashar Assad's regime, a Syrian opposition leader announced on Monday.

“Maqdessi left Damascus for Beirut and from there he headed to an unknown destination,” Jamal al-Wadi, the director of the office of revolutionary movement of the Syrian National Council, told Sky News Arabia television.

Israel's decision to build new homes between east Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim settlement is controversial plan which, if enacted, would cut the West Bank in half and threaten the viability of a future Palestinian state.

The decision, which was taken last week by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, relates to construction in a corridor of land in the West Bank which runs between the easternmost edge of annexed east Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim -- which is known as East 1, or E1 for short.

French President Francois Hollande said Monday he was worried by Israel's plans to build new settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, but indicated Paris was not ready to back concerted punishment in response.

"We do not want to start thinking in terms of sanctions," Hollande said during a Franco-Italian summit in Lyon.

Egypt's most senior judges announced on Monday they would delegate judicial officers to oversee a referendum on a controversial draft constitution, overriding calls for a boycott, a presidential aide said.

The Supreme Judicial Council's announcement that judges would monitor the December 15 vote across the country comes as a blow to President Mohamed Morsi's opponents, including judges, who had hoped to delegitimize the referendum.

The public prosecution in Tunisia has appealed against last week's court ruling to drop a case of possible indecency against a young woman allegedly raped by two policemen, her lawyer said on Monday.

"We just found out this morning that the prosecution has lodged an appeal," Bochra Belhaj Hmida told Agence France Presse. "It's their right, legally, there's nothing that can be said about that. But on the moral front..."

Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime is in danger of collapse "anytime" as the opposition gains ground on the military and political fronts, Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said on Monday.

"That could happen anytime," the secretary general said in an interview with Agence France Presse.

An air strike killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 30 in the northeastern Syrian town of Ras al-Ain on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Among the dead were four civilians and eight rebels, the Britain-based watchdog said.

Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah on Monday accepted the resignation of the cabinet which quit as part of a routine process after election, the official KUNA news agency reported.

The ruler also asked outgoing Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak al-Sabah and other ministers to continue as a caretaker government until a new cabinet is formed.