Gregory III Lahham, the Syrian patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic church has called on his fellow Christians to stay in Syria, despite the brutal conflict raging in the country.

"I say to my children, stay in your country, the future will be difficult, but it will be better, God willing," he told AFP in an interview.

A Bahrain appeals court has upheld jail terms of up to 15 years for 17 Shiites convicted over attacks on police in the unrest-hit country, a judicial source said Tuesday.

The Manama court, which delivered the verdicts on Monday, also reduced by seven years sentences for three other defendants in the same case, the source said.

Russia is seeing more "realism" from the Syrian opposition, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday, as Moscow pressed on with efforts to set up elusive peace talks between the warring sides.

Speaking in an interview to Moscow's Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper, Lavrov praised some steps by the opposition, but said that no "constructive platform" has yet been found to unite all those opposing the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday hit back at charges that his country is allowing extremists to flow across its long border with Syria, calling for greater intelligence cooperation.

"In no way Turkey tolerates or will be tolerating any extremist groups crossing Turkish borders," the minister told reporters, speaking in English after meetings in Washington with top U.S. officials.

Dozens of supporters and opponents of the army gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square Tuesday to mark the anniversary of anti-military protests, amid mounting anger over a memorial to those killed in Egypt's uprising.

The 2011 demonstrations in central Cairo were against the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the military junta that took power after the fall of Mubarak.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday he would not be able to visit Israel over the coming weekend, despite an announcement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Instead, Kerry said he would try to visit Israel again after the November 28 Thanksgiving holiday in the United States.

The United States will keep two Patriot missile batteries in Turkey for another year to help bolster the country's air defenses against threats from Syria's civil war, the Pentagon said Monday.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of Washington's decision in talks at the Pentagon that focused on the conflict in Syria, a spokesman said.

President Barack Obama's top counter-terrorism aide called Yemen's President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi Monday, backing his efforts to enshrine a new political structure for a federal state in the strife-torn nation.

Lisa Monaco, assistant to Obama for counter terrorism and homeland security "commended the National Dialogue for its efforts to develop a shared vision for a more just and democratic Yemen," a White House statement said.

The Palestinians cast a U.N. General Assembly vote for the first time Monday and claimed the moment as a new step in their quest for full recognition by the global body.

Most of the 193 members of the General Assembly applauded Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour as he voted for a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

Egypt said Monday its ambassador to Tunisia will return after being recalled in September following the Tunisian president's call for the release of Egypt's deposed president Mohammed Morsi.

Ayman Musharafa was recalled "because of Tunisian officials' unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of Egypt," Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Badr Abdelatty said in a statement.