"An armed terrorist group" gunned down a Syrian general in Damascus on Saturday, the official SANA news agency reported, saying he was in charge of a military hospital in the capital.

"An armed terrorist group this morning assassinated brigadier general and doctor, Issa al-Khawli, the director of Hamish hospital, outside his home in the district of Ruknaddin," in northwest Damascus, SANA said.

Arab recognition of the opposition Syrian National Council is imminent, SNC member Ahmed Ramadan said in Qatar on Saturday, ahead of key talks in the Egyptian capital on the crisis.

"We have confirmations of an Arab recognition (of the SNC) that will soon take place, though not necessarily on Sunday," when the Arab League holds a ministerial meeting on Syria in Cairo, Ahmed Ramadan told AFP.

Rights groups Saturday urged Malaysia not to deport a young Saudi journalist whose Twitter comments about the Prophet Mohammed triggered calls for execution in his home country.

Hamza Kashgari was arrested after arriving at Kuala Lumpur international airport on Thursday and a police spokesman said was still being quizzed.

Syrian armor moved on the protest center of Homs and a general was gunned down in Damascus on Saturday as the bloodshed showed no signs of abating.

The Syrian National Council (SNC) said Arab recognition of the opposition umbrella group was imminent, ahead of key talks in the Egyptian capital on the crisis.

The Iraqi branch of al-Qaida carried out two recent bombings in Damascus and was likely behind suicide bombings Friday that killed at least 28 people in the Syrian city of Aleppo, McClatchy Newspapers reported.

Citing unnamed U.S. officials, the newspaper chain said the incidents appeared to verify Syrian President Bashar Assad's charges of Al-Qaida involvement in the uprising against his rule.

Bahraini forces have injured three people after firing tear gas at dozens of demonstrators ahead of the anniversary of Shiite-led protests crushed in March, an opposition activist said on Saturday.

"Three people were severely wounded by tear gas canisters" fired at protesters on Friday, said the source who requested anonymity.

Hamas "will never recognize Israel," its Gaza prime minister said Saturday in a speech in Iran that is likely to complicate Palestinian efforts to form a unity government in the teeth of opposition from the Jewish state.

"They want us to recognize the Israeli occupation and cease resistance but, as the representative of the Palestinan people and in the name of all the world's freedom seekers, I am announcing from Azadi Square in Tehran that we will never recognize Israel," Ismail Haniya said.

Saudi police exchanged fire with "masked gunmen" during a protest in the oil-rich east, killing one of them, state news agency SPA reported early on Saturday, in the second such incident in 24 hours.

Activists contacted by AFP from Dubai said that Zuhair al-Said, 21, was killed as security forces dispersed a protest on Friday against the death of another Shiite demonstrator the previous day.

Activists plan a day of civil disobedience in Egypt on Saturday to mark the first anniversary since they toppled Hosni Mubarak but left an increasingly unpopular but defiant military in charge.

The call for strikes in universities and workplaces comes after a series of protests pressuring the military to transfer power immediately to civilians, rather than wait for planned presidential elections later this year.

Egypt's ruling military said on the eve of the first anniversary of the revolt that toppled Hosni Mubarak that it will not bow to threats or plots against the state, official television reported.

"We will never yield to threats, and we will never give in to pressure," the much-criticized Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) said in a statement broadcast by the channel.