U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday discussed a $2.1 billion deal with Omani leaders to supply an American-made air-defense system to the Arab state facing Iran in the Gulf.

Kerry told Oman's Defense Minister Sayyid Badr al-Busaidi that the United States was "excited" about the deal and "very grateful for your confidence in Raytheon," manufacturers of the defense system.

 Kidnappers on Wednesday released three Egyptian policemen and four soldiers seized in the Sinai, the army said, leading to the reopening of a Gaza border crossing that police closed to protest the abductions.

"The seven security personnel have been released by their kidnappers in Sinai," military spokesman Ahmed Aly said in a statement carried by Egypt's official MENA news agency.

A spate of deadly violence risks plunging Iraq into a sectarian civil war, Canada's top diplomat warned Tuesday, adding that a Canadian was among the latest victims.

"The security situation in Iraq has been fragile for many years," Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said in a statement.

The United States on Tuesday condemned Iran's disqualification of hundreds of would-be presidential candidates, accusing the "unaccountable" clerical leadership of seeking to tighten its grip on power.

"It appears that Iran's unelected Guardian Council, which is unaccountable to the Iranian people, has disqualified hundreds of potential candidates based on vague criteria," State Department deputy spokesman Patrick Ventrell said.

Israeli troops shot and seriously wounded a 12-year-old Palestinian boy during a clash in the West Bank on Tuesday, Palestinian security and medical officials told Agence France Presse.

They said that Atta Mohammed Sharadeh was hit during one of what have become almost daily clashes between young Palestinians and soldiers outside the Jelazoun refugee camp, near Ramallah.

Veteran Algerian dissident Hocine Ait Ahmed is too ill to attend a congress of his Socialist Forces Front (FFS) later this week, the first he has missed since he founded it 50 years ago, organizers said on Tuesday.

Ait Ahmed's doctors have advised him against travelling to Algeria for the congress from his longtime base in Switzerland, organizing committee co-chairman Mohamed Amokrane Cherifi told Agence France Presse.

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been transferred to a new facility in Paris to continue his recovery after treatment in a French military hospital, France's defense ministry said Tuesday.

Bouteflika, 76, was flown to the Val de Grace hospital in Paris three weeks ago following a mini-stroke and speculation has been rife about the state of his health.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered a shakeup of senior security officers on Tuesday after a spate of unrest that has killed more than 380 people so far this month, an official said.

Maliki, "after consultation with security officials, issues orders ... for changes in the operations commands and commanders of divisions," the senior official told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.

The head of Israel's armed forces warned Syrian President Bashar Assad on Tuesday of "consequences" if fire continues from Syrian territory against Israeli troops in the occupied Golan Heights.

"If he disturbs the Golan Heights, he will have to bear the consequences," Lieutenant General Benny Gantz said in an address at Haifa University and broadcast on Israeli television.

Syrian opposition representatives have demanded international guarantees that President Bashar Assad step down in any peace deal, former opposition chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib said on Tuesday, as Russia and the United States step up efforts to organize a peace conference.

The demand was one of eight points set out in a roadmap agreed by delegates to a two-day Syrian National Consultation meeting in Madrid, Khatib said on his Facebook page.