The EU on Wednesday named Iran's elite al-Quds force, five Syrian generals and the military intelligence network in Damascus on a new list of those sanctioned for their role in repression the U.N. says has killed 2,200 people.

The much-feared wing of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was listed for having provided "technical assistance, equipment and support to the Syrian security services to repress civilian protest movements," the European Union's Official Journal showed.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said there were still two powers in Libya despite the success of rebels against the forces of Moammar Gadhafi, and called for talks to resolve the situation.

"Despite the successes of the rebels, Gadhafi and his supporters still have a certain influence and military potential. We want them to sit down at the negotiating table and reach agreements on future peace," he said.

European nations and the United States pressed Wednesday for U.N. sanctions against Syria's President Bashar Assad and his entourage for their deadly crackdown on opposition protests.

A draft resolution circulated to the 15 nation Security Council on Tuesday by Britain, France, Germany and Portugal also calls for a total arms embargo against the country.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas meets on Tuesday the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Near East Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, in Doha as Washington presses the Palestinians to abandon plans to bid from UN membership next month, an Arab diplomat said.

The meeting will take place as several Arab foreign ministers convene after a request by the Palestinian Authority "to maintain cohesion in the Arab stand," the diplomat told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.

The U.N. Human Rights Council on Tuesday ordered a probe into violations committed by the Syrian regime during its crackdown on popular protests.

By 33 votes to four, with nine abstentions, the council passed a resolution to "urgently dispatch an independent international commission of inquiry... to investigate alleged violations of international human rights law ... in the Syrian Arab Republic."

African leaders will meet Thursday to pledge funds to tackle the famine in Somalia and extreme drought across the Horn of Africa which are putting millions of people at risk of starvation.

African Union Commission chairman Jean Ping will appeal to the continents' leaders and the international community to assist more than 12 million drought-hit people in the region, during a pledging conference in the Ethiopian capital.

Up to 700 Afghans marched through Kabul on Tuesday to protest against a decision by the country's election commission to throw nine lawmakers out of parliament in a dispute over vote fraud.

The protestors condemned the United Nations, accusing its mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, of interference, an Agence France Presse reporter said.

Syrian authorities ordered a U.N. team to leave the city of Homs on Monday after protests erupted there, a U.N. spokesman said.

Three people were shot dead when security forces opened fire on a rally in Homs on Monday, according to activists.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour voiced on Monday Lebanon’s rejection of the maritime border maps that Israel presented to the United Nations.

He said in a letter to U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon: “The maritime maps that Israel presented to the U.N. are a blatant violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty and its economic zone.”

Gaza's Popular Resistance Committees on Monday agreed to halt to rocket fire on Israel and abide by an Egyptian-brokered truce after four days of deadly clashes.

At a press conference in Gaza City, the PRC said its militants would respect a "temporary" ceasefire which was announced late on Sunday by Gaza's Hamas rulers.