Syrian rebels captured early Tuesday a vital bridge across the Euphrates river in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor that could cut off regime supplies to the adjoining province of Hasakeh, a watchdog said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the seizing of the Siyasiyeh bridge and another smaller bridge in Deir Ezzor triggered retaliatory air strikes from the regime forces targeting the two crossings.

The bodies of 78 young men, all executed with a single gunshot, were found Tuesday in a river in Aleppo city, adding to the grim list of massacres committed during Syria's 22-month conflict.

The gruesome discovery came ahead of a briefing by peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to the U.N. Security Council on the uprising, which the United Nations says has left more than 60,000 people dead.

Saudi Arabia beheaded one of its nationals Tuesday after he was convicted of drug trafficking, the interior ministry announced in a statement.

Musaed al-Ruweili was arrested as he tried to smuggle "a large number of narcotic pills into the kingdom," said the statement, cited by the official SPA news agency.

Tunisia has deployed special forces near oil and gas sites in the far south, close to the Algerian border, in the wake of the In Amenas hostage-taking attack, security sources said on Tuesday.

The deployment, which began over the weekend, will reinforce military units already stationed in the desert "in order to protect oil and gas sites around the region," said a security source in southern Tunisia.

Jordan's Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur submitted his cabinet's resignation to King Abdullah II on Tuesday, following a general election which was swept by pro-regime loyalists.

"Nsur submitted the resignation of the government to his majesty," a palace statement said.

More than 700,000 Syrian refugees have registered or are awaiting registration in neighboring countries as the conflict in their war-torn nation spirals further out of control, the U.N.'s refugee agency said Tuesday.

"We've had a huge push in the last few weeks. The needs are enormous," UNHCR spokeswoman Sybella Wilkes told Agence France Presse, adding that a colleague on the ground had complained that "we cannot get to everyone fast enough."

Egypt's military chief warned Tuesday the political crisis sweeping the country could lead to the collapse of the state, as thousands defied curfews and the death toll from days of rioting rose to 52.

"The continuing conflict between political forces and their differences concerning the management of the country could lead to a collapse of the state and threaten future generations," General Abdel Fattah al-Sissi said in a speech to students at a military academy.

Yemeni coast guard in coordination with the U.S. navy stopped a ship last week in the Arabian sea loaded with rockets and explosives, the interior ministry said on Tuesday.

The coast guard boarded the vessel, operated by Yemeni crew, in the territorial waters of the south Arabian Peninsula country and found on it a cache of weapons, including shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles and rocket-propelled-grenades, the ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency Saba.

At the peak of Iraq's sectarian war, officials in Baghdad accused Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime of allowing Islamist militants to cross the two countries' border to sow chaos.

Now, Damascus may be feeling the consequences of "playing with fire" as the uprising against Assad's rule enters its 23rd month and regime forces fight the Al-Nusra Front -- a formidable group that has been linked to al-Qaieda in Iraq.

Attacks in Iraq killed three people and wounded six others on Monday, as the country grapples with more than a month of anti-government rallies and a political crisis, officials said.

In separate incidents in Baghdad, gunmen killed a soldier and the bodyguard of a Shiite member of parliament, security and medical officials said. One soldier was also wounded in the violence.