Almost 150 people died on the first day of a barely-observed truce between the warring parties in Syria, a watchdog said, adding that a fresh clashes on Saturday claimed more lives.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said of the 146 people killed in bombings, artillery fire and fighting on Friday, 53 were civilians, 50 were rebels and 43 were members of President Bashar Assad's forces.

Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has urged Egyptians to restart their revolution to press for Islamic law and called on Muslims to kidnap Westerners, the SITE Intelligence Group said Friday.

In a video released on jihadist forums and translated by the U.S. monitoring service, Zawahiri also lashed out at U.S. President Barack Obama, calling him a liar and demanding he admit defeat in Iraq, Afghanistan and North Africa.

Iran's jailed activist Nasrin Sotoudeh who won a European human rights prize on Friday has been on hunger strike and in ailing health in protest at the authorities' refusal to allow face-to-face meetings with her children, Amnesty said.

It said that Sotoudeh, a 47-year-old lawyer, has been on hunger strike for 10 days and was transferred to the medical facility of Tehran's Evin prison on Monday because her health had deteriorated.

Switzerland on Friday adopted new sanctions against Syria, falling into line with decisions taken by the European Union, a statement from the economy ministry in Bern said.

It also took action against two men suspected of links with al-Qaida and the Taliban.

More than 50,000 Muslim worshipers flooded al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City for prayers on Friday, the first day of Eid al-Adha or Feast of Sacrifice, Israeli police said.

"Some 50,000 attended morning prayers on the Temple Mount, and another 7,000 were there for afternoon services," police spokeswoman Luba Samri told Agence France Presse, adding that "everything went peacefully."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will hold talks next week with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on bilateral ties and the crisis in Syria, her spokesman said here on Friday.

Erdogan will arrive in Berlin Tuesday to open a new Turkish embassy building with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his German counterpart Guido Westerwelle.

A ceasefire in Syria appeared to be holding and may eventually allow the deployment of peacekeepers, a senior Arab League official said on Friday, hours after the truce began.

Ahmed Ben Hilli, the deputy secretary general of the Arab League, told AFP the truce brokered by U.N. and Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi was "being respected according to initial indications".

Ismail Haniya, head of the Hamas government in Gaza, on Friday called on Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime to release its "grip" on Palestinians staying in camps in Syria and on "Syrian brothers seeking their freedom and dignity."

"We feel the pain of our (Palestinian) people in camps in Syria, of martyrs and wounded ... May the criminal hand release its grip on children of our Palestinian people in Syria," Haniya said in his sermon for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and ultra-nationalist Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman have agreed to join forces for a general election in the new year, boosting the premier's position as favorite.

Netanyahu and Lieberman said Thursday they will present a joint list for the January 22 election without merging their respective parties, Likud and Yisrael Beitenu.

Russia accused Washington on Thursday of "coordinating" deliveries of arms to Syrian rebels, despite assurances by the State Department that the United States provides no lethal assistance.

"Washington is aware of the deliveries of various weapons to illegal armed groups active in Syria. Moreover, judging by the declarations of U.S. officials published in U.S. media, the U.S. coordinates and provides logistical assistance in such deliveries," the foreign ministry said in a statement.