Syrian troops on Wednesday launched an assault on the central city of Hama, as ongoing violence killed 29 people across the country, a rights group said.

Loud blasts could be heard in the Hama’s Hamidiyeh and other neighborhoods, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Russia Wednesday welcomed Syrian President Bashar Assad's decree calling for a referendum on a new constitution ending single-party rule for the violence-wracked country.

"We certainly believe a new constitution to end one-party rule in Syria is a step forward. It is a welcome idea and we hope the constitution will be adopted," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in The Hague.

Iran's "terrorist activities" have been exposed to the world, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday following a series of blasts in India and Thailand, which Israel has blamed on Tehran.

"At this time, Iran's terrorist activities have been exposed to everyone," he said, accusing the Islamic republic of "harming innocent diplomats across the world."

The Kuwaiti emir Wednesday inaugurated the new opposition-dominated parliament by calling on MPs and the government to cooperate, end disputes and fend off internal and external dangers.

"Our country is facing a host of internal challenges and external dangers that are hampering progress... and stalling development," Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah told the new parliament elected on February 2 in snap polls.

Syria's President Bashar Assad has decreed to hold a referendum for a new constitution on February 26, the official SANA state news agency reported on Wednesday.

"President Bashar Assad issued today a decree setting Sunday, February 26, as the date for the referendum on the draft constitution," SANA reported.

Jordan has given assurances to Britain that Islamist cleric Abu Qatada, once dubbed an aide to Osama bin Laden, will get a "fair" trial if London extradites him to the kingdom, a government official said on Wednesday.

"Jordan has reassured British Home Office Minister James Brokenshire that it is committed to protecting the legal rights of Jordanian citizen Abu Qatada," the official told Agence France Presse.

Egypt's first presidential elections since a popular uprising ousted veteran leader Hosni Mubarak a year ago will be held at the end of May, the state-owned al-Ahram daily reported on Wednesday.

The report comes amid mounting pressure against the military rulers who took power after Mubarak's overthrow to cede power to civilian rule.

The United Nations should consider setting up "humanitarian corridors" to get aid to Syrians caught in the brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Wednesday.

"The idea of humanitarian corridors to allow NGOs (non-governmental organizations) to reach zones where there are absolutely scandalous massacres should be discussed at the Security Council," he told France Info radio.

An explosion struck an oil pipeline in the Syrian protest city of Homs on Wednesday, with activists saying government forces bombed it from the air and the regime blaming "terrorists."

"Around 6:00 am (0400 GMT), two military planes bombed a pipeline located on the edge of Baba Amr neighborhood," Hadi Abdullah, of the opposition General Commission of the Syrian Revolution, told Agence France Presse, citing witnesses.

The international community must rule out military intervention as a solution to the Syrian crisis, the leader of a global Islamic group said Wednesday.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary general of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation, said he remained involved in "quiet diplomacy activities" with Syrian President Bashar Assad over the power struggle that has cost around 6,000 lives over the last 11 months. The violence has led to the country's most severe international isolation in more than four decades of Assad family rule.