The Palestinians expressed full backing Wednesday for U.S. efforts to salvage crisis-hit peace talks, despite a controversial move to seek international recognition after Israel stalled a release of prisoners.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was on Wednesday scrambling to save his faltering Middle East peace efforts just hours after the Palestinians publicly reneged on a commitment to freeze such moves.

Syrian President Bashar Assad said Wednesday that key ally Moscow had helped re-establish "a multipolar world", as he met with a high-level Russian delegation in Damascus.

The delegation was delivering a message from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has provided political, military and financial backing to Assad's regime since the outbreak of a revolt in March 2011.

Two bombs targeting security posts near Cairo University exploded in quick succession Wednesday killing a police general, followed by a third blast as police and journalists gathered at the scene.

Witnesses said the blasts sent up a cloud of smoke and dust near the campus, the scene of repeated clashes in the past few months between Islamist students and police.

Qatar's emir held talks in Sudan on Wednesday at a time of strained ties with his country's Gulf neighbors over its perceived support for the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood.

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani was greeted at Khartoum airport by Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, for what an analyst called a meeting of two regionally-isolated regimes.

Al-Qaida attacked a Yemeni army headquarters in a heavily patrolled district of Aden on Wednesday, sparking a gun battle that killed 20 people, most of them militants, officials said.

The building targeted is located in the supposedly tightly secured coastal district of Tawahi that hosts intelligence and political police headquarters, a naval base and a presidential residence.

Iraq Attacks Kill 14 as U.N. Warns of 'Divisive' Polls

Attacks against security forces killed 14 people Wednesday as the U.N.'s envoy to Iraq warned that the country's election campaign would be "highly divisive" amid a year-long surge in bloodshed.

Iran on Wednesday rejected Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi's accusations it was stoking unrest in his country and urged Sanaa to track down the killers of an Iranian diplomat in Sanaa.

The accusations are "without foundation", said foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham, quoted by ISNA news agency.

An Israeli minister on Wednesday warned of punitive action if the Palestinians pursued efforts to join U.N. agencies, as hopes of a breakthrough in the U.S.-led peace process faded rapidly.

In a surprise announcement late on Tuesday, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said he had begun steps to join 15 U.N. agencies, angering Israel and prompting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to cancel an imminent a trip to Ramallah.

Campaigning for Iraq's April 30 elections will be "highly divisive" as parties appeal to their sectarian bases at a time of worsening violence, the U.N.'s envoy to Baghdad has warned.

Nickolay Mladenov also pushed for Iraqi leaders to urgently pass a much-delayed annual budget within two weeks, noting that further postponing the spending bill would badly impact on drawing much-needed business and investment to the country.

Syria's exiled opposition chief Ahmad Jarba visited Latakia province Tuesday, amid a rebel offensive against the heartland of President Bashar Assad's clan and his Alawite sect, his office said.

"The president of the Syrian National Coalition Ahmad Jarba visited the Jabal Turkman... and Jabal Akrad" areas of Latakia, the opposition chief's office said in an email.