King Abdullah II on Sunday vowed reforms leading to parliamentary government and a tougher fight against anti-corruption, warning against "chaos" and the media creating a climate of "hatred."

In his first televised address since pro-reform protests began in January, the king pledged a new electoral law that would result in "a parliament with active political party representation... that allows the formation of governments based on parliamentary majority... in the future."

The Syrian army's operations in the north of country makes a U.N. Security Council resolution all the more pressing, Germany said on Sunday.

"The dangerous situation makes a clear reaction from the U.N. Security Council all the more urgent," German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, whose country currently holds a non-permanent seat on the council, said in a statement.

Egyptian authorities have arrested an alleged Israeli officer working for the Mossad intelligence agency on charges of spying, the official MENA news agency reported on Sunday.

The Supreme State Security prosecutor ordered the man's detention for 15 days pending investigations into alleged "spying on Egypt with the aim of damaging its economic and political interests," MENA said.

Yemeni colonel, two soldiers and four suspected al-Qaida militants were killed in clashes in the flashpoint southern city of Zinjibar on Sunday, a military official and medics said.

"I lost one of my men, Colonel Salem al-Zuba," who was killed in fierce clashes with al-Qaida gunmen, an officer of the besieged 25th mechanized brigade told Agence France Presse.

Under the rattle of heavy gunfire and loud explosions, Syrian army troops and tanks moved into a restive northwestern city from two sides Sunday, extending the crackdown on a region that is historically hostile the Damascus regime.

The Local Coordination Committee, which documents Syrian anti-government protests, said Jisr al-Shughour was attacked from the southern and eastern sides by troops in about 200 vehicles, including tanks. It said blasts were heard as helicopters clattered overhead.

The central committee of the Fatah party led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has voted to expel strongman Mohammed Dahlan, a Fatah official said on Sunday.

A committee member, speaking to Agence France Presse, said the movement was expelling Dahlan over allegations of corruption and murder, and recommending his case be referred to the attorney general.

Fatah will seek to keep current prime minister Salam Fayyad at the helm of a new government, an official said Sunday, but the nomination was immediately rejected by Hamas.

The central committee of Fatah, headed by president Mahmoud Abbas, agreed at a Saturday night meeting to throw their support behind Fayyad, a member of the committee told Agence France Presse.

Ten Yemeni soldiers and 21 suspected al-Qaida militants were killed in clashes in south Yemen on Saturday, the defence ministry said on its news website.

Fierce clashes erupted in the city of Zinjibar, in Abyan province, between gunmen who have seized control of most of the city and besieged troops from the 25th mechanized brigade, a military official said on the 26Sep.net website.

Violence north of Baghdad on Saturday killed nine people, including five members of a Sunni Arab family slain early in the morning, Iraqi security and medical officials said.

The attacks come with just months to go before all U.S. soldiers must withdraw from the country, with American officials pressing their counterparts in Baghdad to decide whether or not they want an extended U.S. military presence.

Suspected al-Qaida militants killed five Yemeni soldiers and wounded others on Saturday in an ambush near the southern city of Loder, witnesses said.

Witnesses said gunmen ambushed an army convoy carrying supplies and reinforcements to the 111th brigade, which is based in Loder, in Abyan province.