Syria has not yet agreed to give the "unfettered access" demanded by the United Nations for an inquiry into the alleged use of chemical weapons in the country's conflict, diplomats said Wednesday.

The United Nations wants the team to start work as early as next week but has still not reached an agreement with President Bashar Assad's government on the extent of the investigation, diplomats and U.N. officials said.

Austria said Wednesday it does not plan on withdrawing any forces from the U.N. peacekeeping mission on the Golan Heights, despite rising concern over troop safety in conflict-torn Syria.

"At the moment there are no plans" for any reduction in personnel, a defense ministry spokeswoman told Agence France Presse.

Iraq executed 18 people this month, eight of them on the same day as an attack on the justice ministry, a top official said on Wednesday, despite global condemnation over its ongoing executions.

They were the first confirmed executions this year, after Justice Minister Hassan al-Shammari insisted last week that Baghdad would continue to implement the death penalty in the face of widespread calls for it to issue a moratorium.

Iran's foreign ministry has strongly protested against a Saudi accusation that it was directly linked to an alleged spy cell busted last week in the kingdom, Iranian media reported on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia's interior ministry said on Tuesday that the cell it dismantled last week had "direct links" to Iran's intelligence services.

Syria's President Bashar Assad on Wednesday met with a committee tasked with forging a political solution to the country's spiraling conflict, state media said.

"President Assad held a meeting with a committee tasked with putting in place a program for a political solution to the crisis in Syria," said SANA news agency.

Israeli police on Wednesday stopped a far-right MP from entering a flashpoint holy site in Jerusalem fearing a violent response from Muslims at the site, a police spokesman said.

Moshe "Feiglin wanted to visit the Temple Mount this morning, police prevented him to make sure there would be no public disorder," spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Agence France Presse.

President Bashar Assad's regime lashed out against the Arab League on Wednesday for giving the opposition Syria's seat, and said the group could no longer play a role in solving the crisis.

"The decision taken by the Arab League on Tuesday has permanently eliminated it from playing a role in a solution for the crisis in Syria, because it has become part of the problem rather than its solution," a government statement said.

The Syrian opposition opened in Qatar on Wednesday its first "embassy," a day after opponents of President Bashar Assad were given Damascus's seat at the Arab League.

Opposition chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib and Qatari State Minister for Foreign Affairs Khaled al-Attiya inaugurated the representative office dubbed the "Embassy of the Syrian National Coalition".

Russia on Wednesday called the Arab League's decision to award Syria's seat at the organization to the anti-regime National Coalition "illegal and indefensible".

"In terms of international law, the League's decision on Syria is illegal and indefensible because the government of the Syrian Arab Republic was and is the legitimate representative member-state at the United Nations," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

The UAE warned its citizens on Wednesday not to travel to Iraq on hunting trips this season because of insecurity in the country, state news agency WAM reported.

"This measure aims to secure and protect all the country's citizens," said senior foreign ministry official Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Buti al-Hamed, urging Emiratis to comply, according to WAM.