U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi met Sunday in Cairo with Syrian opposition leader Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib and urged him to keep seeking dialog with the Damascus government, the U.N. said.

Brahimi met with Khatib and the vice president of the National Coalition, Riad Seif.

Several tense confrontations have broken out in the past week between residents of largely rebel-held northwestern Syria and hardline Islamist insurgents, witnesses said on Sunday.

A number of such altercations took place around Atme in Idlib province, where the residents generally support the hardline al-Nusra Front group, who are spearheading attacks against forces of President Bashar Assad.

Opposition forces have struggled to carve out an identity ever since Tunisia's post-revolution elections brought Islamists to power at a time of disunity between secular parties.

The assassination on Wednesday of leftist opposition leader Chokri Belaid has thrown up an opportunity to close ranks but it "may be seized or squandered," said Kamel Laabidi, founder of Vigilance for Democracy and Civil State, an NGO.

The Israeli defense ministry on Sunday confirmed it had given the green light for the construction of 346 new settler homes in two settlements in the southern West Bank, a statement said.

"The defense ministry has approved plans for 200 housing units in Tekoa and 146 housing units in Nokdim," the ministry said.

Syrian rebels launched fierce assaults on regime troops in several parts of the country Sunday, including near Deir Ezzor where they used tanks to shell an army brigade, a watchdog and activists said.

The rebels used tanks to shell Brigade 113 just north of the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, which they have surrounded for weeks, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Iran's nuclear ambitions, Syria and the peace process with the Palestinians will top U.S. President Barack Obama's agenda on his upcoming visit to Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.

Last week, the White House said Obama would make his first visit to Israel as president on a trip likely to take place next month. It would also include stops in the Palestinian territories and Jordan.

He's hardly best buddies with Benjamin Netanyahu and his drive for a Palestinian state is comatose, so why did Barack Obama pick Israel to fire up his legacy-boosting second term diplomacy?

The U.S. president sprung a surprise last week by announcing he would pick the turmoil-laced Middle East for the first trip since re-election.

A Kuwaiti MP on Sunday filed to question in parliament the interior minister over allegations that his ministry was dealing with Israel and for failing to control opposition-led protests.

Shiite lawmaker Faisal al-Duwaisan claimed in his grilling request that the interior ministry has purchased a border security system to fortify the emirate's border with Iraq from SENSTAR Corp in Canada.

Bahrain's key political players launched a new round of talks on Sunday to try to resolve the kingdom's two-year crisis, after opposition groups made a last-minute decision to join a national dialogue.

Participants gathered at a tourist resort south of Manama, where the first session of the dialogue -- which will convene three times a week -- were held behind closed doors, Agence France Presse reported.

Yemen on Sunday demanded an explanation from Tehran over an Iran-linked arms shipment seized last month and rejected interference in its internal affairs, state news agency Saba reported.

"The Yemeni government will not allow interference in its internal affairs from any party, or for its territories to become a site for proxy wars," Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi told Iran's ambassador to Sanaa, Mahmoud Hassan Zada.