Egypt's army chief vowed Sunday to stand firm in the face of violence by Islamists, in his first remarks since a deadly crackdown on supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi.

"Whoever imagines violence will make the state and Egyptians kneel must reconsider; we will never be silent in the face of the destruction of the country," said Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Fierce fighting raged in Latakia province on Syria's coastline on Sunday, as the army pushed an advance and killed a jihadist leader, a monitoring group said.

The regime deployed massive reinforcements to fight rebels in Latakia, which has strategic and symbolic significance because it is the ancestral home of President Bashar Assad's clan.

Thousands of Syrian Kurds have poured into Iraq over the past few days, to escape deadly clashes between Kurdish fighters and jihadists and seeking a respite from privation.

The U.N. says more than 15,000 refugees have crossed into Iraq in the latest influx since Thursday, with more expected to follow.

Supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi canceled some Cairo marches Sunday for "security reasons", as the military chief vowed to face down violent protests following Egypt's bloodiest week in decades.

The latest developments come as senior European Union diplomats were to hold emergency talks Tuesday in Brussels to discuss the situation in Egypt and any future EU action.

Around 10,000 people took part in a demonstration in the Moroccan capital on Sunday in support of Islamists in Egypt locked in a deadly showdown with security forces.

The crowd carried banners condemning the police operations that have cost hundreds of lives among demonstrators demanding the reinstatement of Egypt's army-ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi and posters showing the dead in makeshift morgues in Cairo.

Syria's President Bashar Assad said on Sunday he is determined to "eradicate terrorism" which he blames for the conflict raging in his country, according to state news agency SANA.

"Syria has welcomed all constructive, genuine efforts to find a political solution to the crisis" that erupted in March 2011, Assad was quoted as saying.

U.N. inspectors tasked with investigating the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria arrived Sunday in Damascus as fierce fighting raged in the coastal heartland of President Bashar Assad's clan.

The fighting in Latakia came as Assad vowed again that he was determined to "eradicate terrorism" which he blames for the deadly conflict that has plagued his country for the past 29 months.

The British embassy in Yemen reopened on Sunday, two weeks after closing along with U.S. and other Western missions over a terror alert, diplomats said.

"We are open as normal," the British ambassador to Yemen, Jane Marriott, wrote on her Twitter account on Sunday, the first day of the week in Yemen.

Ruling Islamist movement Ennahda and the opposition Nidaa Tounes said Sunday they have held secret talks in Europe to try to find a way out of Tunisia's political crisis.

Nidaa Tounes leader, ex-premier Beji Caid Essebsi, a sworn enemy of the Islamists, met Ennahda chief Rached Ghannouchi while on a European tour last week, his center-right party said in a statement.

Attacks in Iraq killed at least eight people including an anti-al-Qaida militia leader on Sunday, officials said, the latest in a surge of violence plaguing the country.

Security forces have in recent weeks carried out some of their biggest operations since the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. forces, but analysts and diplomats say authorities have not addressed root causes of the unrest.