Venezuela is training a "guerrilla army" aiming to be a million strong by 2013 to fight off a possible US invasion, an opposition lawmaker said Sunday.
The Syrian army pressed its assault on rebels in commercial capital Aleppo on Sunday, while both sides reported atrocities and Arab foreign ministers postponed a planned meeting on the 17-month conflict.
Egypt's army massed troops in Sinai on Thursday in a campaign to quell increasingly deadly Islamist militants as Bedouin leaders pledged their help in a meeting with the interior minister.
The Egyptian army on Monday promised to "avenge" the deaths of 16 border guards in an assault the previous day on a post near the border with Israel, in a statement issued by state news agency MENA.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Wednesday that the army was fighting for the nation's future as UN officials said the regime was using fighter jets against rebels armed with tanks.
The United States said it was "very concerned" about a Syrian offensive in Aleppo, Syria, but rejected comparisons to Libya where NATO-led forces intervened last year to protect civilians.
Rebel forces were bracing Friday for a decisive "mother of all" battles in Aleppo, as Washington warned the Syrian army could be preparing to carry out a massacre in the country's second city.
President Barack Obama's comments about the soldier accused of the biggest intelligence leak in US history were prejudicial and sought to harm the suspect's defense.
Rebels declared the battle to "liberate" Damascus has begun as heavy fighting raged across the city on Tuesday and Russia said an agreement is possible for a UN resolution on the Syria crisis.
North Korea's army chief has been relieved of all his posts due to illness, state media said Monday, in a surprise development that removes one of new leader Kim Jong-Un's inner circle.