Syrian rebels seized on Thursday a key army position in the central province of Hama, which lies on the road linking Damascus to Aleppo in the north, a monitoring group said Thursday.

The military responded by deploying en mass to try to take back the position at Morek and began shelling it, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights added.

At least 93,000 people, including over 6,500 children, have been killed in Syria's civil war, the United Nations said Thursday, warning that the true death toll could be far higher.

The skyrocketing number of deaths over the past year, along with documented cases of children tortured and entire families massacred, "is a terrible reminder of just how vicious this conflict has become," U.N. rights chief Navi Pillay said.

A Yemeni soldier was killed in clashes Thursday with tribesmen who attacked an oil pipeline and halted the flow of crude, sources said.

The soldier was in a convoy escorting a technical team to the site of the attack in the Sarwah region, between Sanaa and Marib in the country's east, a security official said.

Publication of the first images of convalescing Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in a Paris hospital has failed to reassure the country's media, with many commenting Thursday on his weak health.

"Bouteflika greatly weakened by the illness," ran the headline of French-language daily El Watan.

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon is in exploratory talks with Sweden over plans it could lead a beefed-up peacekeeping force between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, an Israeli official said on Thursday.

"It's in very preliminary stages," he told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.

Israel is seeking approval for hundreds of settler homes in the northern West Bank settlements of Itamar and Bruchin, Israel media reported on Thursday.

The Jerusalem Post said that plans to build 538 new homes in Itamar and legalize 137 existing units were submitted to regional planning authorities this week.

Nine months after the U.S. ambassador to Libya was killed in an attack, Secretary of State John Kerry has sworn in a new envoy, vowing she would play a key role as the country moves toward democracy.

Long-time diplomat Deborah Jones took the oath of office on Tuesday to replace Chris Stevens in a ceremony at the State Department.

Ousted president Hosni Mubarak, his wife and one of their sons are to return gifts worth a total of $600,000 (450,000 euros) to Egypt's former information minister, a judicial source said on Wednesday.

The source, quoted by state news agency MENA, said the prosecutor's office accepted a proposal from the Mubaraks to return the gifts and Gamal Mubarak had signed the necessary paperwork.

The United States eased restrictions on trade with Syria's opposition Wednesday, in a move aimed at helping supply the critical needs of Syrians in "liberated areas."

The new waivers to general sanctions on the country allow companies to supply software, technology, reconstruction and power generation equipment, as well as farm and food production equipment, to opposition-controlled areas.

Britain and its allies must be "prepared to do more" to save innocent lives in Syria, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Wednesday after talks with his U.S. counterpart John Kerry.

"The UK believes that the situation demands a strong, coordinated, and determined approach by us... and our allies," Hague told a joint press conference in Washington, adding he had no new announcements on whether Britain would be sending arms to the Syrian opposition.