Gunmen on Thursday attacked an Egyptian Coptic church in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi and started a fire, witnesses said.

"Several armed men arrived firing in the air, started a fire in the church and left," a resident near the church in central Benghazi told Agence France Presse, asking not to be named.

The balance of power in Syria will eventually shift to rebel forces but a protracted civil war risks destabilizing the whole region, a leading think-tank warned Thursday in its annual report on world military strengths.

Syria dominated an "increasingly complex" global security situation that also includes China's rise and a continuing increase in Asian defense spending, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said.

Ali Larayedh became Tunisia's new Islamist premier on Thursday, taking over from his predecessor Hamadi Jebali and faced with the task of ending a political and economic crisis gripping the country.

Speaking at the swearing in ceremony at the prime minister's office, Larayedh said his cabinet would listen to "the concerns of the nation and the people."

The Egyptian opposition is more determined than ever to boycott parliamentary elections after Islamist President Mohamed Morsi challenged a court decision delaying the polls, former Arab League chief Amr Moussa said on Thursday.

In an interview with Agence France Presse, Moussa said there had been no "serious talks" with the president on the opposition's core demand for a government of national unity despite the impact of the political deadlock on Egypt's faltering economy.

Syria's President Bashar Assad Thursday congratulated Pope Francis on his election, highlighting his role as head of the Roman Catholic church in "spreading love" in the world.

Assad's statement comes two years into a spiraling conflict in Syria that the United Nations estimates has left some 70,000 people dead.

Several hundred people attended the funeral on Thursday of a street vendor who burnt himself to death in central Tunis, with the event turning into a protest against the ruling Islamists.

Adel Khazri, 27, was laid to rest in Souk Jemaa in northwestern Tunisia, hours before the new government headed by Islamist premier Ali Larayedh was to be sworn in to confront the pressing problems facing the country.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas told Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Thursday he hoped to establish peace talks with Israel later this year while admitting that the chances for progress were slim.

Abbas said during a visit to Moscow he hoped "that later this year, we will see the start of substantive negotiations with Israel".

Israeli President Shimon Peres on Thursday welcomed the election of Pope Francis, saying he represented "holy modesty" and inviting him to visit the Holy Land.

"The newly-elected pope represents devotion, the love of God, the love of peace, a holy modesty and a new continent which is now awakening," Peres said a day after the election of Argentinian cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the first-ever pontiff from Latin America.

Coordinated attacks involving a string of bombings and a brazen attempted assault on a ministry near the heavily-fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad killed nine people Thursday, officials said.

The violence comes just days before the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of the country, and with barely a month to go before Iraq holds its first elections in three years.

Chinese-made missiles have been used to shoot down two Syrian army helicopters, state media reported Thursday, adding their performance could boost the international sales appeal of Chinese weapons.

The Global Times, a tabloid with close links to the ruling Communist Party, said a pair of videos posted on the Internet by Free Syrian Army rebels showed two Mi-8/17 helicopters being shot down by Chinese shoulder-launched missiles.