An Iraqi technical delegation has held talks in Kuwait over a seaport Baghdad claims would strangle its narrow shipping lanes in the Gulf, the Kuwaiti foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

The Kuwaiti side presented illustrations and studies on Mubarak al-Kabir port and its impact on shipping in Khour Abdullah waterway, said an official quoted by the KUNA news agency.

Twenty three tribesmen were killed in overnight clashes with troops loyal to embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Arhab, northeast of the capital, a tribal source said Tuesday.

"Twenty three of our fighters were killed in fierce overnight clashes with the Republican Guard," said the source, adding that the worst fighting was concentrated in the area of Sheheb Arhab.

Iran sees no justification for any Western intervention in the "internal affair" of its regional Arab ally Syria, foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on Tuesday.

"The events in Syria are its internal affair and there is no justification for any foreign intervention as it can only create many problems," Mehmanparast said during his weekly press briefing.

Israel is trying to dissuade a U.S. senator from pushing a bill that would suspend U.S. assistance to three of its elite army units suspected of human rights abuses, Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Tuesday.

The bill is being promoted by U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, who wants to see funding withheld from the three units, one of which was involved in the deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla in 2010, which left nine Turkish nationals dead.

A commission probing Bahrain's crackdown on Shiite-led protests said Tuesday it has closed its office after being stormed by people angered by media claims it has cleared authorities of crimes against humanity.

The Bahrain Commission of Inquiry said in an emailed statement that it will continue its investigation from outside the office, insisting that claims in the media were unfounded.

Morocco said Tuesday it will hold early parliamentary elections on November 25, as the Arab world's longest-serving monarchy pursues reforms in response to protests inspired by the Arab Spring.

The elections "will take place on Friday, November 25 following an agreement with the political parties," Interior Minister Taieb Cherkaoui was quoted as saying by Moroccan news agency MAP.

One Palestinian was killed and seven wounded in at least four overnight Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics said on Tuesday.

The Israeli military said its aircraft had targeted four areas in the Gaza Strip in response to the firing of a Grad rocket from the Palestinian territory into southern Israel.

Libya's rebels on Monday denied reports they were talking with the tottering regime of Moammar Gadhafi, as fighting raged in both east and west and Washington said the strongman's "days are numbered."

The United Nations also denied that its special envoy on Libya Abdul Ilah al-Khatib was involved with talks in Tunisia between representatives of Gadhafi and the rebels after Khatib had indicated he would be joining such talks.

The United States said Monday it was working with "a broad array" of other countries to pressure Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to end the "outright murder of his own people."

Assad "has to cease the systematic violence, mass arrests, and the outright murder of his own people," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.

Attacks in more than a dozen cities across Iraq killed 67 people on Monday, including 40 in twin blasts blamed on al-Qaida in the southern city of Kut, in the country's bloodiest day in more than a year.

The surge of violence raises questions over the capabilities of Iraq's forces after its leaders agreed to open talks with the United States over a military training mission to last beyond a projected year-end American withdrawal.