Top U.S. diplomat John Kerry traveled to Saudi Arabia on Sunday hoping to soothe tensions over Washington's refusal to intervene in Syria and its diplomatic overtures to Iran.

Relations with the longtime ally have been strained over U.S. reluctance to strike Syria or provide more aid to rebels there, as well as its tentative detente with Iran following the election of President Hassan Rouhani, a reputed moderate.

A mortar round hit near the ancient citadel in the heart of the Syrian capital on Sunday, while fierce clashes raged in several Damascus neighborhoods, a monitoring group said.

"A mortar landed near the Damascus citadel wounding several people, while another fell near the Dweila district (in the southeast), setting fire to a textile plant," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Palestinians threatened to go to the U.N. Security Council over Israel's announcement on Sunday of tenders to build more than 1,800 settler homes in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

"The PLO is considering a mechanism to go the Security Council and the U.N. against these new Israeli decisions, especially as there are international resolutions that consider settlements illegal," senior member Wassel Abu Youssef told Agence France Presse.

The trial of ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi is a "test" for Egypt's new military-installed authorities who are engaged in a deadly crackdown on his supporters, Amnesty International said Sunday.

Morsi, toppled by the army on July 3 following mass street protests against his one-year rule, will stand trial on Monday charged with inciting the murder of protesters outside his presidential palace in December 2012.

The Syrian foreign ministry Sunday denounced comments by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Syria, saying they could cause proposed peace talks on the 31-month conflict to fail.

A statement said that remarks by Kerry "threaten to cause the failure of the Geneva conference, are a flagrant violation of Syrian affairs and an aggression against the Syrian people's right to decide their future."

The rebel leader who led a massive July 2012 assault on Aleppo resigned Sunday, accusing both Syria "warlords" and the international community of "conspiring" against the people.

"Because of some people's refusal to heed calls for unity... I announce my resignation from the leadership of the Revolutionary Military Council in Aleppo," Colonel Abdel Jabbar al-Okaidi said in a video statement.

Israel issued tenders to build 1,859 settler homes Sunday ahead of a visit by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry aimed at pushing the peace process forward, an NGO said.

Settlement watchdog Peace Now told Agence France Presse that 1,031 plots were offered by Israel's housing and construction ministry in the occupied West Bank and 828 in annexed east Jerusalem, and that successful bidders would be able to start construction shortly.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday that Washington and its allies may differ over "tactics" on the Syrian conflict but they shared the goal of a handover of power.

The top U.S. diplomat was speaking at the start of an 11-day tour aimed at shoring up ties with Arab nations that have frayed in part over the war in Syria.

Bahrain's public prosecution on Sunday accused Ali Salman, head of the main Shiite opposition bloc Al-Wefaq, of allegedly insulting the interior ministry, the official BNA news agency reported.

Police summoned Salman for questioning on Saturday after Al-Wefaq opened a "Revolution Museum" on October 28 in a Shiite village near Manama.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry sought Sunday to calm fears that Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are faltering, saying he remained hopeful there would be progress in the coming months.

But he renewed his plea for the world -- keen for a deal to end six decades of animosity between the two sides -- to give negotiators space to work.