President Bashar Assad on Wednesday mourned the death of Venezuela's leader Hugo Chavez as a "great loss" for himself and the Syrian people.

"The demise of this unique leader is as much a great loss for me personally and the Syrian people as it is for the people of Venezuela," Assad said in a statement broadcast on state television.

Britain will provide body armor and armored vehicles to the rebels battling forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad, Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Wednesday.

Hague said the non-lethal military aid, worth $20 million (15.4 million euros), was a "necessary, proportionate and lawful response" to a situation of "extreme" humanitarian suffering.

The chief of staff of Syria's rebel army issued a strong call for arms and ammunition from Western nations Wednesday, saying that if helped, the insurgents could topple President Bashar Assad's regime "within a month".

"What we have now is little, very very little," Brigadier General Selim Idriss said in Brussels, where he spoke on the invitation of a group of centrist political parties in the European Parliament.

The head of security in Port Said was sacked on Wednesday, security officials told Agence France Presse, as violence raged in the Egyptian canal city.

Mohsen Radi was relieved of his duties and transferred to the prison services department in Cairo "in response to demands by residents and to help calm the situation," one of the officials said.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday that "a lot of countries" are training Syrian rebels as part of stepped up efforts to topple President Bashar Assad's regime.

"It's one part of it. But other nations are doing other things. There are a lot of nations working at this. And so I think President Assad needs to read the tea leaves correctly," Kerry told Fox News during a visit to Qatar.

The car of Libya's interim leader came under fire in Tripoli as he left a chaotic session of the national assembly disrupted by protesters, without causing casualties, the interior minister said Wednesday.

"The car of the General National Congress speaker (Mohammed al-Megeryef) came under fire as assembly members left in a state of total confusion" on Tuesday night, Ashur Shwayel told a press conference.

Egypt's administrative court on Wednesday ordered the cancellation of controversial parliamentary elections scheduled for April 22, throwing the country deeper into political crisis.

Judge Abdel Meguid al-Moqanen said Islamist President Mohamed Morsi had ratified a new electoral law last month without sending it to the Supreme Constitutional Court for its approval, as required by the constitution.

A Jordanian MP, angered by a fellow deputy accusing the premier of corruption, tried to draw a pistol during a session of parliament on Wednesday but was circled by colleagues who talked him down.

Khalil Atiyeh, a deputy speaker, said MP Shadi al-Adwan was annoyed when fellow MP Zeid Shawakbeh accused Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur of corruption.

Tunisia's secular president said in comments published on Wednesday that Salafist hardliners blamed for deadly violence since the 2011 revolution should be fought but within the bounds of the law.

President Moncef Marzouki said there should be no return to the strong-arm tactics of ousted dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, even after the February assassination of leftist politician Chokri Belaid that has sparked Tunisia's worst crisis since his overthrow.

Iraq's Chaldean Catholic Church enthroned a new patriarch during a ceremonial mass Wednesday that was held amid tight security in Baghdad.

The mass at St. Joseph's Chaldean church in downtown Baghdad marked the final step as Louis Sako, 64, replaced Emmanuel III Delly, who has retired.