Former U.S. president George W. Bush says he remains "comfortable" with the decision to invade Iraq, even as a new spate of bloody violence hit the country and rocked politics in Baghdad.

Bush told ABC News in an interview marking the opening of his presidential library on Thursday that it was up to history to judge the invasion of Iraq in 2003, prompted by fears of weapons of mass destruction that were never found.

Gunmen seized control of Sulaiman Bek, a town north of Baghdad, following deadly fighting with Iraqi security forces on Wednesday, officials said.

Security forces have completely withdrawn from the area, which is now under the control of the gunmen, Shalal Abdul Baban, a local administrative official responsible for the area, told Agence France Presse.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel urged caution Wednesday over an Israeli claim Syria's regime used chemical weapons, saying it was "serious business" and any evidence had to be weighed carefully.

Warning against a possible rush to judgement, Hagel indicated he had been caught off guard by allegations from an Israeli general this week that Syria had fired chemical agents against rebels in recent months.

Syria's main opposition bloc insisted on Wednesday that any talks between U.S. and Russia on ending their country's war be based on President Bashar Assad's departure.

"According to news sources at the NATO foreign ministers conference in Brussels, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Lavrov met and seemed to share similar views regarding the Syrian crisis," said the National Coalition.

Damascus said on Wednesday it will stop cooperating with international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi unless he severs his ties with the Arab League, which it accused of involvement in a conspiracy against Syria.

"Syria has cooperated and will cooperate with Brahimi only as U.N. envoy, because the Arab League is complicit in the conspiracy against Syria," the foreign ministry said in a statement carried by state media.

A car bomb in the Iraqi capital killed at least seven people and wounded 23 on Wednesday, security and medical officials said.

The bomb exploded in a mobile phone market in Al-Husseiniyah in east Baghdad, they said, bringing the toll since Tuesday from a country-wide wave of violence to 125 dead and 268 wounded.

Tunisian MPs on Wednesday adopted a law creating a temporary independent body tasked with overseeing the judiciary, more than two years after the revolution and following months of disagreement.

The law was adopted almost unanimously, with 151 votes in favor and four abstentions, according to national television which broadcast the debate.

U.N.-Arab League mediator Lakhdar Brahimi suggested the Security Council consider an arms embargo on both sides of Syria's conflict during a closed-door meeting, a U.N. official said Wednesday.

Brahimi "emphasized the need for a political solution along the lines of the Geneva Communique and warned against the growing militarization and radicalization inside Syria," Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman said, describing the address delivered last Friday.

The minaret of Aleppo's ancient Umayyad mosque was destroyed on Wednesday, Syrian state media and a watchdog reported, with the regime and the opposition blaming each other.

An archaeological treasure in Aleppo's UNESCO-listed Old City, the mosque has been the center of fighting for months and had already suffered extensive damage.

The U.N's envoy on torture voiced his "deep disappointment" Wednesday after Bahrain, rocked by renewed clashes between security forces and pro-democracy activists, postponed his planned visit.

"This is the second time that my visit has been postponed, at very short notice," United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture Juan Mendez said in a statement.