Two Kuwaiti journalists who were detained in Iran for more than a month on spying charges returned home on Sunday after being freed, the Gulf emirate's media reported.

Adel al-Yahya, a presenter for private satellite television channel al-Adalah, and freelance cameraman Raed al-Majed flew in on a special flight ordered by the Kuwaiti emir, the al-Watan daily reported on its website.

The last U.S. soldiers rolled out of Iraq across the border to neighboring Kuwait at daybreak Sunday, whooping, fist bumping and hugging each other in a burst of joy and relief. Their exit marked the end of a bitterly divisive war that raged for nearly nine years and left Iraq shattered, with troubling questions lingering over whether the Arab nation will remain a steadfast U.S. ally.

The mission cost nearly 4,500 American and well more than 100,000 Iraqi lives and $800 billion from the U.S. Treasury. The question of whether it was worth it all is yet unanswered.

France on Saturday denounced what it termed the excessive use of force against protesters by Egyptian authorities after clashes in Cairo left nine people dead and about 300 wounded.

"France is worried about the violent incidents that have taken place on Tahrir Square in Cairo," a foreign ministry statement said, adding that Paris "denounces the violence and excessive use of force against protesters."

Syrian Local Coordination Committees confirmed on Saturday that security forces killed 34 civilians as they pressed on with a crackdown on dissent across the country.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said six civilians were killed when security forces launched search operations in the southern Daraa province, the cradle of anti-regime protests that began in mid-March.

Leaders of Syria's largest opposition movement met behind closed doors in Tunisia on Saturday to discuss ways of accelerating the downfall of President Bashar Assad.

Tunisia is hosting a three-day meeting of Syrian opposition groups formed before and since the launch of the March uprising against Assad's regime.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have urged Saudi Arabia to scrap amputation sentences against six men convicted of robbery, with HRW on Saturday calling the sentencing "prohibited torture."

"Cutting off someone's hands and feet is torture, plain and simple," said HRW senior Middle East researcher Christoph Wilcke.

Qatar branded as "regrettable" on Saturday an airport attack on Russia's ambassador last month, saying ties with Moscow were solid although Russia downgraded relations with the Gulf state.

"Our relations with Russia are solid, strong and important and this regrettable incident will not affect them," Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani told reporters on the sidelines of an Arab League meeting on the Syria crisis.

A Yemeni military commission began returning the capital to normality Saturday, removing checkpoints and barricades erected during months of deadly protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Bulldozers were seen removing sand berms thrown up by the pro-Saleh Central Security service at the Asser roundabout, under the supervision of members of the joint commission formed by the new opposition-led government, an Agence France Presse correspondent reported.

Thousands of Tunisians rallied on Saturday to commemorate a young fruitseller's desperate gesture a year ago which unleashed the pioneering revolution of the Arab Spring.

Newly-elected President Moncef Marzouki joined the crowds in the town of Sidi Bouzid, where Mohamed Bouazizi's altercation with a policewoman and his subsequent self-immolation set off a wave of protests that toppled long-standing dictators and dramatically changed the Arab world.

The Arab League on Saturday threatened to take Syria to the U.N. over its deadly crackdown on dissent but an Iraqi mediator said he had "positive" talks in Syria aimed at defusing the nine-month crisis.

The Qatari prime minister warned that the Arab League would take Syria to the U.N. Security Council if it persisted in refusing to allow observers into the country to monitor the protection of civilians.