Syrian President Bashar Assad accused Palestinian groups he did not identify on Sunday of treating the country like a "hotel", in his first public speech in seven months.

Assad praised every "honorable Palestinian in Syria who has served (the country's interests alongside) his Syrian brother and not treated Syria like a hotel, leaving it when circumstances become difficult."

Egypt's minority Coptic Christians celebrate on Monday their first Christmas under Islamist rule and amid a climate of fear and uncertainty for their future.

"I do not really feel safe," says Ayman Ramzi, who feels his community threatened by the rise of Islamists in the world's biggest Sunni Arab nation.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas gave orders Sunday for work to begin on new passports, ID cards, drivers' licenses and stamps reading "State of Palestine," official media said.

The decree, carried by the official WAFA news agency, came in the wake of the Palestinians' successful bid late last year for non-member observer state status at the United Nations over intense Israeli and U.S. opposition.

The European Union reiterated Sunday that President Basahar Assad must step aside to allow a political settlement after the Syrian leader called for a national dialogue in a much-awaited speech in Damascus.

A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a short statement: "We will look carefully if there is anything new in the speech but we maintain our position that Assad has to step aside and allow for a political transition."

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Sunday warned of "polarization" across the region as he led a low-key ceremony marking the anniversary of the founding of the country's armed forces.

Maliki said "regional competition" was negatively affecting Iraq, an apparent reference to the violence in Syria where mainly Sunni rebels are fighting President Bashar Assad's regime, and two weeks of rallies in Iraq's western Anbar province, which is mostly Sunni.

Iran's parliament on Sunday urged "judicial action" against police officers involved in the death in detention of a blogger last year, adding he may have died of "shock."

"The most likely cause of death could be shock, which, if proved, could have been caused by blows to sensitive parts of the body, or could have been due to excessive psychological pressure," media reported quoting a report read in the parliament.

Britain denounced President Bashar Assad's speech on Sunday calling for a conference of national dialogue to end the Syrian conflict as "beyond hypocritical," as Germany said the address offered "no new insights."

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Assad's first speech to the nation since June was full of "empty promises" and would "fool no-one".

The opposition Syrian National Coalition rejects a reconciliation plan outlined by President Bashar Assad in Damascus on Sunday, spokesman Walid al-Bunni told Agence France Presse by phone.

"We said at the founding of the National Coalition that we want a political solution, but ... there are now over 60,000 martyrs. The Syrians did not make all those sacrifices in order to bolster this tyrannical regime," he said.

Nearly 9,000 Syrians, mostly women and children, fled to Jordan over the past six days to escape the bloodshed in their homeland, a government spokesman told AFP on Sunday.

"Some 8,835 Syrians fled to the kingdom since January 1 this year," said Anmar Hmud, a government spokesman for Syrian refugee affairs.

A Yemeni court specializing in terrorism cases sentenced five Yemenis to between four and 10 years in prison Sunday on charges of membership in Al-Qaida and for plotting to carry out terrorist attacks.

Key defendant Mohammed Muawada was jailed for 10 years while three accomplices were given a 6-year prison sentence each and the fifth one was sentenced to four years in jail, according to the verdicts announced by judge Hilal Mahfal.