Turkey's Supreme Military Council assigned new names for the army's top brass Thursday after the shock mass resignation of its highest command in a row with the government.

The acting chief of staff General Necdet Ozel became the new chief of staff and he will take up the post after the cabinet approves his promotion.

Turkish authorities have seized an Iranian arms shipment heading to Syria and was meant for Hizbullah, a German newspaper reported Thursday.

The Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung quoted diplomatic sources as saying that Turkish security forces stopped a convoy of trucks carrying a large quantity of weapons and ammunition in the south-central city of Kilis, which is adjacent to the Syrian border.

Turkey's Supreme Military Council began a crucial annual meeting Monday days after the shock mass resignation of the force's top brass, the Anatolia news agency reported.

The meeting, which reviews the promotion prospects of senior officers, opened under the direction of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but in the absence of former army chief Isik Kosaner who dramatically resigned on Friday.

Turkey urged the Syrian government Sunday to halt deadly attacks on civilians and use peaceful methods to end the unrest.

"Turkey one more time repeats its call for the Syrian government to stop the (military) operations and choose political methods, dialogue and peaceful initiatives for a solution," the foreign ministry said in a statement carried by Anatolia news agency.

Two Turkish soldiers were killed and two others wounded in separate clashes around Turkey, Anatolia news agency reported Saturday.

Kurdish separatist rebels killed one soldier when they opened fire overnight from Friday to Saturday on a military unit patrolling on a road near the village of Beyyurdu in the country's southeast, near the border with Iran and Iraq, Anatolia said.

Turkey's military police chief was named acting chief-of-staff late Friday, after the country's top military command resigned in a row with the government, the prime minister's office said.

"The president has approved the assignment of military police chief General Necdet Ozel as the land forces commander. General Ozel is deployed as acting chief-of-staff," it said in a statement.

A blast early Friday hit a pipeline carrying natural gas from Iran to Turkey, forcing a cut in supply, an Iranian oil official said.

"The export of gas to Turkey has been temporarily halted after an explosion struck the pipeline" in northwestern Iran, spokesman for National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) Majid Boujarzadeh told the oil ministry's news agency SHANA.

Archaeologists believe they have discovered the tomb of Saint Philip, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ, in western Turkey, Anatolia news agency said Wednesday, quoting the team leader.

"We have been looking for Saint Philip's tomb for years," Italian Francesco d'Andria told the agency. "We finally found it in the ruins of a church which we excavated a month ago."

Turkey is preparing to harden its attitude towards Israel for its refusal to apologize over last year's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, official sources said on Tuesday.

The Israeli government has to date failed to either say sorry or compensate families of the nine activists who were killed in May last year in a commando raid on the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish-owned ferry which was leading the convoy.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat continues to remain a centrist and seeks to defend civil peace, Social Affairs Minister Wael Abou Faour told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on Tuesday.

Civil peace is a priority for Jumblat who is only interested in keeping Lebanon away from strife, Abou Faour, who represents the PSP chief in the cabinet, said.