Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a mortar into southern Israel Thursday morning which exploded without causing casualties or damage, a police spokesman said.

"A mortar was fired in the general direction of a kibbutz, it didn't cause injuries or damage," Micky Rosenfeld told Agence France Presse.

Egypt's Foreign Minister Mohammed Amr on Thursday warned of regional consequences should the crisis in Syria "explode", during talks with U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria Kofi Annan, his spokesman said.

Amr said that an "explosion" of the situation in Syria "would not only have internal consequences but will spread to the whole region," Amr Roshdy told reporters.

Two explosions on Thursday struck security posts in the northern Syrian town of Aazaz, site of fierce clashes between government and rebel troops, a monitoring group said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement that one blast targeted an intelligence office and the second a police station.

The Yemeni army has killed seven suspected al-Qaida militants in an artillery strike on Zinjibar, an extremist stronghold in the restive southern Abyan province, a military official said on Thursday.

The assault follows one of the deadliest al-Qaida attacks on Yemeni security forces in the southern outskirts of Zinjibar on Sunday that killed 185 troops.

United Nations and Arab League special envoy to Syria Kofi Annan on Thursday urged the Syrian opposition to cooperate to resolve the conflict that has left thousands dead in the past year.

Former U.N. chief Annan, speaking to reporters in Cairo, urged "the Syrian opposition to come together to work with us to find a solution that will respect the aspirations of the Syrian people."

Syrian opposition leader Burhan Ghalioun on Thursday welcomed the defection of the deputy oil minister and told Agence France Presse he expects more government officials and politicians to follow suit.

"I hail the deputy (oil) minister who defected and I call on all government members and public servants ... to abandon this regime and join the ranks of the revolution for freedom and dignity," said Ghalioun, head of the Syrian National Council, the main opposition group.

Israel's leaders are "wantonly disregarding" the country's ability to cope with a war as tensions rise over a possible confrontation with Iran, an MP in charge of home front preparations has told Agence France Presse.

Zeev Bielsky, who heads the parliamentary committee for home front preparedness, said there was a dire shortage of gas masks ready for use in the event of a war.

The United States offered Israel advanced weaponry in return for it committing not to attack Iran's nuclear facilities this year, Israeli daily Maariv reported on Thursday.

Citing unnamed Western diplomats and intelligence sources, the report said that during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington this week, the U.S. administration offered to supply Israel with advanced bunker-busting bombs and long-range refueling planes.

Syria's deputy oil minister resigned on Thursday, becoming the most senior official to join the rebel ranks, as Washington revealed it is mulling non-lethal aid to the insurgency.

Abdo Hussameddin announced his resignation in a video posted by activists on YouTube, saying he was joining the revolt.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Wednesday the United States is looking at delivering radios or other non-lethal aid to Syria's rebel forces but warned of the risks of military action against President Bashar al-Assad's regime without international consensus or a unified opposition.

While outraged at the killing of civilians in Syria, the U.S. government is opposed to taking "unilateral" military action and favors pursuing diplomacy to force Assad to step down, Panetta told the Senate Armed Services Committee.