A man arrested over a suspected bomb hoax on a Manchester-bound Qatar Airways flight has been ordered to take a psychiatric evaluation under Britain's Mental Health Act, police said Wednesday.

Turkey's foreign minister on Friday met Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal in the Qatari capital Doha to help efforts to broker a ceasefire with Israel, a government official said.

Ahmet Davutoglu met Meshaal in Doha for "negotiations aimed at a fair ceasefire," the official told Agence France-Presse on condition of anonymity. "The talks are proceeding in a positive direction."

The Lebanese government and the Qatari capital Doha are exerting efforts with some factions of the armed Syrian opposition to release some Lebanese who have gone missing in the neighboring country, reported As Safir newspaper on Saturday.

A widely-informed security source told the daily that the contacts will likely result in the release of around seven Lebanese held in Syria after it emerged that they may still be alive.

Egypt has welcomed the decision of three Gulf states to withdraw their envoys to Qatar and said its own ambassador "will not return" to the Gulf emirate.

The unprecedented decision this week by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates was seen as closely linked to Qatar's support for the Muslim Brotherhood of deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, who was overthrown by the military in July.

A gas tank on the roof of a restaurant exploded in the Qatari capital Thursday, killing 12 people, mostly Asian and Arab customers, and injuring 31 others, the interior ministry said.

The blast tore through the restaurant, which is attached to a mall in Doha and next to a petrol station, according to footage aired on Qatar Television.

France on Sunday called on Saudi Arabia and Qatar to help find a solution to the crisis in Egypt as it received senior diplomats from the two rival regional powers.

Qatar, considered an ally of ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, has strongly condemned the intervention by the authorities against the Islamist leader's supporters.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said on Monday that the clashes in the Lebanese southern city of Sidon were the result of a "secret" plan to ramp up assistance to Syria's rebels.

“What's happening in Sidon in terms of terrorism and crimes is one of the results of the secret decisions taken in Doha,” al-Muallem told a press conference in Damascus.

Syrian opposition chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib said Tuesday he had asked that NATO's Patriot missile system be extended to protect rebel zones inside the war-torn country, as he took up Syria's seat in the Arab League for the first time.

Launching into a fiery speech after leading a delegation into a Doha summit to thunderous applause from Arab leaders, Khatib also demanded that the opposition be allowed to represent Syria at the United Nations.

Qatar has handed the Syrian embassy building in Doha to the National Coalition, Syria's main opposition group, a statement said on Wednesday.

"Qatar has decided to hand over the Syrian embassy building in Doha to Mr Nizar al-Haraki after his appointment as ambassador to Doha for the National Coalition," the Coalition statement said.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi hoped on Sunday that the United States and Russia could reconcile their views over Syria in order to facilitate a settlement of the crisis in the war-ravaged country.

"Talks between the United States and Russia along with the international envoy (Lakhdar Brahimi) continued in Geneva today," Arabi told a meeting of the Arab ministerial committee on Syria held in Doha.