More than 70 Syrian military officers have defected to the opposition and crossed into Turkey, an official there said on Saturday, as world leaders prepared to discuss the Syrian conflict at the G8 summit.

The defections followed a U.S. decision to give the rebels "military support" after Washington reviewed evidence showing the Syrian regime had used chemical weapons.

Al-Qaida's leader in Iraq has defied orders from the group's global chief, Ayman al-Zawahiri, to break up his claimed union with a jihadist group in Syria, according to an audio message released Saturday.

The purported remarks by Islamic State of Iraq head Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in the message posted on jihadist forums indicate tensions between ISI and al-Qaida's central command.

U.S. President Barack Obama discussed the Syria conflict with European leaders ahead of next week's G8 summit in Northern Ireland, the White House said Saturday.

Obama spoke late Friday with British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande, Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, it said in a statement.

Security forces have arrested an Egyptian on suspicion of spying for Israel, Egypt's state prosecutor said on Saturday, adding that it has detained him for 15 days for questioning.

Official news agency MENA, which carried the prosecutor's comments, added that the man is accused of having worked for Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence service.

The Pentagon confirmed on Saturday that F-16 fighter jets and Patriot missile interceptors will remain in Jordan after the end of a joint military exercise this month.

"Secretary (Chuck) Hagel has approved a request from the Kingdom of Jordan for a detachment of F-16s and Patriot Missiles to remain in Jordan following the conclusion of the Eager Lion Exercise next week," spokesman George Little said in a statement.

The emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, is preparing to hand control of the gas-rich Gulf state to his son, Qatari diplomats and officials said.

A cabinet reshuffle is also expected in which powerful Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani may lose his post, or at least the foreign affairs portfolio, the sources said.

A Saudi court handed two Saudi women 10-month jail sentences on Saturday for seeking to help a Canadian woman who wanted to leave her Saudi husband with their children, human rights activists said.

The court also banned Fawzia al-Ayuni and Wajiha al-Huaider from leaving the kingdom for two years, rights activist Aql al-Bahli said.

Shiite rebels in Yemen known as Zaidis said on Saturday several of their men arrested during clashes with police in Sanaa have been freed under an "arrangement".

"The authorities have released a number of detainees, members of Ansarullah (Supporters of God)," their spokesman Ali al-Bukhaiti told Agence France Presse.

A deadly rocket attack on Saturday struck a camp near Baghdad housing Iranian exiles, the U.N. said, the second such assault on the group this year as its members await resettlement outside Iraq.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack involving at least half a dozen mortar rounds, which came as Iran tallied ballot papers from Friday's presidential election there.

Regime forces bombarded rebel positions in Damascus and its surroundings on Saturday with air raids and artillery fire, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"Air raids targeted parts of Jubar... and Barzeh," two neighborhoods on the eastern outskirts of the Syrian capital where rebels and government forces have battled for months.