Syrian troops killed at least 62 rebels in an ambush Wednesday near Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Syrian military said those killed were members of the jihadist Al-Nusra Front.

Gunmen in Egypt's restive Sinai Peninsula gunned down a politician known for his support of the military on Wednesday, security official and medics said.

The Bedouin politician's influential tribe immediately blamed Islamist militants who have conducted daily attacks on security forces since the military overthrew Egypt's Islamist president Mohammed Morsi on July 3.

Tunisian newspapers said Wednesday the country's Islamist rulers and their detractors must open a dialogue on ending the political crisis gripping the North African state before it's too late for negotiations.

Tens of thousands of people poured onto the streets of Tunis overnight to demand the government's resignation, as the crisis deepened with the suspension of Tunisia's elected National Constituent Assembly (ANC).

Israel's Jewish population is overwhelmingly of the opinion that negotiations with the Palestinians will fail to achieve peace, according to a poll published Wednesday.

Some 80 percent of Israeli Jews said the chances of success of U.S.-brokered talks, which resumed on July 29 after a three-year hiatus, were "low," against only 18 percent who said they were "high".

Bahrain's King Hamad has banned protests in Manama in an amendment to a law on public gatherings, ahead of a major opposition demonstration called for mid-August, state news agency BNA reported.

The monarch, whose kingdom has been rocked by Shiite-led protests since 2011, also toughened penalties against the guardians of minors caught taking part in protests, BNA said late on Tuesday.

Kuwait has released seven opposition activists, including a woman, who were in prison for insulting the ruler on Twitter after he pardoned them last week, the interior ministry said Wednesday.

Dozens of other opposition activists and former lawmakers being tried on similar charges were not included in the pardon issued by Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah on the occasion of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Fierce clashes broke out Wednesday on the edge of the northern city of Aleppo, a day after rebels overran a nearby air base, while a deadly blast rocked Raqa city, a watchdog said.

"Fierce clashes pitting rebels... against regime forces broke out near the airforce intelligence building in the Layramun area on the edges of Aleppo," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Saudi Arabia's deputy defense minister has been replaced after only four months in the post by a half-brother of powerful intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan, in a royal decree.

Prince Salman bin Sultan, son of late crown prince and veteran defense minister Sultan bin Abdul Aziz who died in 2011, replaced Prince Fahd bin Abdullah bin Mohammed who was named deputy defense minister only in April, the official SPA agency reported late Tuesday.

U.N. weapons inspectors tasked with looking into claims of chemical weapons use in Syria are "completing their preparations" in The Hague before heading to Damascus, the United Nations said Tuesday.

"It is anticipated that these preparations will be completed within the next days, following which the date of the mission in Syria will be announced," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

The U.S. Justice Department has filed the first criminal charges in the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, two U.S. officials said Tuesday.

The officials confirmed that a sealed complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington against an unspecified number of individuals in the September 2012 attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. One official said those charged included Ahmed Abu Khattala, the head of a Libyan militia. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss a sealed indictment.