Syrian tribes opposed to the embattled regime of Bashar al-Assad said Monday they would join forces in an "Assembly of Tribes," Syrian opposition members and media reported.

"Today we proclaim, as children of all tribes, an Assembly of Tribes," opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) member Mahmut al-Maslat said in a statement read out on behalf of the assembly.

A Lebanese man turned the joke of climbing into somebody's suitcase a reality when he hid in the luggage of a German to cross the Turkish border into Greece.

Turkish customs officers at the Pazarkule Customs Gate ordered the German man to open his suitcase when they became suspicious over its enormous size.

Iran has bought itself extra time during a first round of key talks with world powers over its disputed nuclear program, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.

"My initial impression is that Iran has been given a 'freebie'," Netanyahu said during talks with visiting U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, the premier's office reported.

The United States on Friday called on Iran to show "seriousness" in nuclear talks in Turkey, after Tehran warned it was discouraged by the approach of Western nations.

After a 15-month hiatus, officials from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany (known as the P5+1) will meet with Iranian counterparts in Istanbul on Saturday.

International aid for Syrians fleeing President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown has begun to arrive in Turkey, its foreign minister said Friday amid concern over growing refugee numbers.

"We will start getting international aid, and in fact we have already started," after swelling numbers of refugees who turned up at Turkish-Syrian border, Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters in Istanbul.

Clashes between the Syrian army and rebel fighters broke out Friday for the first time since a hard-won U.N.-backed ceasefire came into force a day earlier, a monitoring group said.

"Fighting with heavy machineguns took place in Khirbet al-Joz, located on the Turkish border, between regime soldiers and (army) deserters," Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Agence France Presse.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Thursday accused the Syrian regime of failing to abide by the ceasefire and peace plan hammered out by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.

"There's a six-point plan put forward by Annan... Is it being implemented? I'm not of the opinion it is being implemented," Erdogan told reporters before leaving for Saudi Arabia where he was to have talks on the Syrian crisis.

NATO said Thursday it takes its responsibility to defend allies "extremely seriously" after member state Turkey said it may seek help after shootings along its border with Syria.

"We are deeply concerned by events in Syria, particularly the recent incidents on the border with our ally Turkey," NATO spokeswoman Carmen Romero told Agence France Presse.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul has signed into law a controversial education bill which extends access to religious schools and has infuriated secularists, NTV television reported Wednesday.

The bill was approved by parliament last month after fierce debates between lawmakers from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) and opposition deputies.

Shots fired by Syrian forces early Wednesday hit a Syrian refugee camp just across the border with Turkey, Turkish media reported.

News channel CNN-Turk showed images of automatic rifle fire towards Turkish territory from a border surveillance building flying the Syrian flag near Kilis in southeastern Turkey.