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CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's president fired his intelligence chief on Wednesday for failing to act on an Israeli warning of an imminent attack days before militants stormed a border post in the Sinai Peninsula and killed 16 soldiers.

The dismissal, which followed Egyptian airstrikes against Sinai militants, also marked a bold attempt by the Islamist leader to deflect popular anger over the attack. It pointed to a surprising level of cooperation with the powerful military leaders who stripped the presidency of significant powers just before Morsi took office June 30.

In a major shake-up, President Mohammed Morsi also asked Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi to replace the commander of the military police, a force that has been heavily used to combat street protests since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak 18 months ago. Rights activists have accused the military police of brutality against protesters.

Morsi also fired the commander of his presidential guards and ordered new chiefs for security in Cairo and the police's central security, a large, paramilitary force often deployed to deal with riots.

The decisions were announced hours after Egyptian attack helicopters fired missiles at militants in Sinai as part of what the military said was the start of an offensive, to "restore stability and regain control" over the desert territory bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip. The use of air power marked a sharp escalation in Egypt's fight against the militants, who have become increasingly active in the mountainous terrain since last year's uprising.

The military said the joint ground operation with police was backed by warplanes.

The start of the Sinai campaign won swift praise from Egypt's most powerful ally, the United States. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney commended the Egyptians for showing a "willingness to take action when necessary."

State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said the U.S. supports Egypt's efforts to bring the perpetrators of Sunday's attack to justice.

"The United States supports the Egyptian government's ongoing efforts to protect its people and others in the region from terrorism and growing lawlessness in the Sinai," he said.

Morsi's firing of senior officials was his first major assertion of authority since he succeeded Mubarak, who ruled Egypt for 29 years.

The generals who took over from Mubarak and ruled Egypt for 17 months made a major power grab just before Morsi took office, retaining many key powers for themselves including the right to legislate and control over the national budget.

The firings followed a meeting of the newly created National Defense Council, which includes Morsi, top army commanders and senior intelligence officials. The decision-making at that meeting reflected a level of cooperation between the president, a longtime leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the military leaders in the face of rising tensions over the deadliest attack ever on the military from within Egypt.

Military officers outnumber civilians on the newly created council, which takes decisions by a simple majority. That means that the generals were on board.

"The decisions are consensual and it seems that the interests (of Morsi and the military) have converged on this," said political analyst Ammar Ali Hassan. "It was in the interest of the presidency and the generals to find a scapegoat."

Still the cooperation was not seen as the end of Morsi's struggle with the military to get back the full powers of the presidency. The military may have agreed because it faced accusations of negligence in the media over the attack. Witnesses said security forces arrived at the scene a full hour after it took place and that no soldiers were on sentry duty outside the small post at the time of the attack.

Morsi's decisions won him praise from political factions outside his Muslim Brotherhood support base.

"The Egyptian people and the revolutionaries wait for more purging of failing officials," said Ahmed Maher, a founding member of the April 6 movement, one of the key pro-democracy groups behind the uprising last year that forced Hosni Mubarak to step down.

Aboul-Ela Maadi, leader of the Islamist Wasat party, defended Morsi against critics who blamed him for the attack.

"This is the beginning of the president assuming his duties and exercising his authority as president," he said.

But prominent rights activist Hossam Bahgat said the decisions did not go far enough to clarify the relationship between Morsi and the military.

"It doesn't go as far as establishing full civilian democratic control over the military," he said. "But it indicates that the military accepts that Morsi is the new head of Egypt. This however is not guaranteed to last. It is going to take time for the new political order to become clear."

The soldiers killed in the attack were guarding a post in Sinai close to where the Egyptian, Israel and Gaza borders meet. It raised questions about the readiness of Egyptian forces in the area, particularly after Israel warned the country several days earlier an attack was imminent.

Large swathes of northern Sinai have plunged into lawlessness following Mubarak's ouster, with a massive flow of arms smuggled from Libya finding their way into the hands of disgruntled Bedouins. The lawlessness is coupled with the rise there of al-Qaida-inspired militant groups that are waging a campaign of violence against Egyptian security forces. They have also staged several cross-border attacks on Israel.

The attackers killed the soldiers as they were breaking their daily fast for the holy month of Ramadan with a sunset meal. They commandeered an armored vehicle which they later used to storm across the border into Israel. They were then targeted by an Israeli airstrike that killed at least six militants.

The intelligence chief that Morsi fired, Murad Muwafi, was quoted in Wednesday's newspapers as saying his agency was aware of the Israeli warning but did not think that Muslims would attack Muslims while they were breaking their fast during Ramadan.

Muwafi, 61, took over the intelligence post after his predecessor, the enigmatic and secretive Omar Suleiman, was named vice president in the final days of Mubarak's rule. He served as military intelligence chief before that and governor of Northern Sinai. In his last public appearance, he sat grim faced at a meeting with Morsi and Tantawi immediately after the attack.

His replacement, Mohammed Rafaat Shehata, is a career intelligence officer with a focus on Israeli-Palestinian affairs and relations with Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza.

Morsi surprised many Egyptians by staying away from the state funeral given to the slain troops on Tuesday, drawing harsh criticism in the media and on social networks.

He may have stayed away for security concerns. At the funeral secured by military police, some mourners chanted slogans against Morsi. Prime Minister Hesham Kandil was heckled and some threw their shoes at him or held them up as a sign of contempt.

Morsi's order that the military police commander be replaced along with the chief of the capital's security was apparently linked to their failure to ensure his safety which forced him to stay away from the funeral and the humiliation of his prime minister, who had to flee to a nearby mosque.

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AP correspondents Maggie Michael in Cairo, Mark S. Smith aboard U.S. Air Force One and Bradley Klapper in Washington contributed to this report.

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian troops launched a broad ground assault Wednesday on rebel-held areas of the besieged city of Aleppo and activists reported clashes as opposition forces fought back in a battle that has raged for more than two weeks.

The official SANA news agency claimed regime forces have fully regained control on Salaheddine — the main rebel stronghold in the northern city. It said the military inflicted heavy losses upon "armed terrorist groups," the government's catchall term for its opponents.

But Rami Abdul-Rahman, the director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said troops met resistance in the offensive.

President Bashar Assad's regime has suffered a series of setbacks over the past month that point to mounting chaos in the country after a 17-month-uprising that has morphed into civil war. Four senior security officials were assassinated in Damascus, there have been a string of high-level defections including the prime minister this week, and government forces have struggled to put down rebel challenges in Damascus and Aleppo.

The regime has far more powerful weapons than the rebels and still has a firm grip on much of the country.

Aleppo, the largest city in Syria and its commercial center, holds great symbolic and strategic importance. Some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Turkish border, it has been a pillar of regime support during the uprising. An opposition victory there would allow easier access for weapons and fighters from Turkey, where many rebels are based.

There has been a marked increase in the number of refugees fleeing to Turkey in the past two days as Aleppo-based activists reported fresh clashes. Intense government bombardment of the Syrian town of Tal Rafaat closer to the border also sent scores of people spilling into Turkey for safety, the activists said.

Some 2,400 people crossed into Turkey overnight to escape the escalating violence, Turkey's state-run news agency reported Wednesday. Some 50,000 Syrians have now found refuge in Turkey. Even more refugees have crossed into Jordan and Lebanon.

"Unfortunately, there is a human tragedy going on in Syria," Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said Wednesday, keeping up Turkey's criticism of the violence.

The regime has been hit by a wave of defections, most recently by Prime Minister Riad Hijab. On Wednesday, Jordan's information minister said Hijab is in the kingdom, ending speculation about his whereabouts. Sameeh Maaytah said Hijab "entered Jordan in the early hours of dawn today along with several members of his family." Maaytah spoke to the state Petra News Agency. He did not elaborate.

A Jordanian government official said earlier this week that Hijab had defected and fled to the kingdom. But Hijab never appeared in public, raising questions over his whereabouts in the ensuing days.

Assad has been forced to rely on a shrinking list of allies, including Iran. Senior Iranian envoy Saeed Jalili visited Damascus on Tuesday, appearing with Assad in a show of solidarity.

The rebels have blasted Iran's influence in the country and over the weekend, rebel forces intercepted a bus carrying 48 Iranians and kidnapped them. Rebels claimed the men are military personnel, including some members of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, who were on a "reconnaissance mission" to help Assad's crackdown on the uprising.

Iran initially said the 48 were pilgrims visiting a Shiite shrine in Damascus. The Iranian foreign minister said Wednesday that some of the kidnapped Iranians are retired members of the army and Revolutionary Guard.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran has announced openly that some of the pilgrims kidnapped are retired members of the Guard and the Army," Iran's official IRNA news agency quoted Salehi as saying during a visit to Turkey.

"If these people had been dispatched to Syria for specific purposes, then how did they drive in a normal bus without equipment and holding their identification cards?" Salehi asked.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard is the nation's largest military force.

AP writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, and Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran contributed to this report.

BEIRUT (AP) — Armed Shiite clansmen in Lebanon said Wednesday they had captured more than 20 Syrians and will hold them until one of their relatives seized by rebels inside Syria is freed. The tensions were a stark reminder of how easily Syria's civil war could spill over to neighboring states.

In Geneva, a U.N. investigation said Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces and pro-government militiamen were responsible for war crimes during a May bloodbath in the village of Houla that killed more than 100 civilians, nearly half of them children. It also said rebels were blamed for war crimes in at least three other killings.

The report by the U.N. Human Rights Council said the scale of the Houla carnage indicated "involvement at the highest levels" of Syria's military and government. It is first time the U.N. has described events in Syria's civil war as war crimes and could be used in possible future prosecution against Assad or others. The council also said the conflict is moving in increasingly "brutal" directions on both sides.

As the fighting deepens, so do the fears of it triggering unrest in fragile Lebanon, which is deeply divided between supporters and opponents of President Bashar Assad's regime. The country, which was devastated by its own 15-year civil war that Syria was deeply involved in, has witnessed clashes between pro- and anti-Syrian groups over the past months, mostly in the northern city of Tripoli.

Syrian rebels have adopted a new tactic recently of seizing prisoners from countries or foreign groups allied with the regime to rattle Assad and his allies outside the country. In May, Syrian rebels captured 11 Lebanese Shiites shortly after they crossed from Turkey on their way to Lebanon. Earlier this month, rebels abducted 48 Iranians near the capital Damascus.

The Syrian rebels are predominantly Sunni whereas Assad and his inner circle are dominated by Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

The Lebanese prisoner in Syria, Hassane Salim al-Mikdad, appeared in a video released by rebels over the past few days. He said he is a member of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militant group allied with predominantly Shiite Iran and with Syria. The captive, who appeared to have bruises on his face, said he was sent to Syria to fight with Assad regime forces.

Hezbollah denied al-Mikdad is a member and his family claimed he has been living in Syria for more than a year.

Abu Ali al-Mikdad, a relative, told reporters in Beirut Wednesday that his Shiite clan has abducted "more than 20 Syrians" including a senior member of the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA). Later, the clan said it also had seized a Turkish man, and Lebanese state TV displayed a Turkish passport provided by the al-Mikdad family. Turkey is a strong backer of the Syrian rebels.

The Beirut-based TV station Al-Mayadeen aired a video purporting to show two of the abducted Syrians who said they are members of the FSA. One of them identified himself as Capt. Mohammed and said his job was to supply the FSA with arms and fighters.

"I call them (FSA) upon to free the prisoners they are holding because they are innocent," said one of the two captured men shown on TV who identified himself as Maher Hassan Rabih.

The al-Mikdad family is a powerful Shiite Muslim clan that originally comes from the eastern Bekaa Valley, an area where state control is somewhat tenuous. Like most tribes in this area, they have their own armed elements.

Activists reported shelling and clashes in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest, where rebels took over several neighborhoods over the past weeks. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebels were trying to take over a key dam in the northern town of Manbij, just east of Aleppo. It added that the army was using helicopter gunships in the battles near the dam on the strategic Euphrates River.

In the northern town of Azaz — where the 11 Lebanese had been held — at least two air strikes leveled dozens of buildings. Associated Press journalists saw at least seven bodies pulled from the rubble. Activists drove some of the wounded to the nearby Turkish border for treatment.

Some rescuers brought a generator and electric saw to cut through steel reinforcement bars in the concrete. Nearby, a woman sat on a pile of bricks that was once her home, cradling a baby.

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said Syrian government fighter planes fired rockets that struck the main emergency hospital in an opposition-controlled area of Aleppo a day earlier, wounding two civilians and causing significant damage. Human Rights Watch said its members visited the damaged hospital.

The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group said there was also fighting near a border crossing with Turkey that the rebels had captured last month. A local official in the Turkish border town of Reyhanli said clashes could be heard coming from the region on Tuesday but that the situation had calmed by Wednesday morning. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency said 757 Syrians fled their country and streamed into Turkey on Wednesday.

Activists say more than 20,000 people have been killed since the start of Syria's revolt, inspired by other Arab Spring uprisings against autocratic regimes in the region. The conflict has slowly morphed into a full blown civil war.

The LCC reported violence in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, northwestern region of Idlib, Daraa to the south and in suburbs of the capital Damascus.

In Damascus, a bomb attached to a fuel truck exploded Wednesday outside a hotel where U.N. observers are staying, wounding at least three people, Syrian state TV reported. Activists also reported clashes in different parts of Syria, including clashes with rebels near the government headquarters and the Iranian embassy both in Damascus.

Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad toured the area of the blast and said none of the U.N. staff was hurt. The explosion occurred as U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos was in the Syrian capital but her team is believed to be staying at a different hotel.

The blast was the latest in a series of explosions that have hit Damascus in the past months as clashes between government troops and rebels reached the capital, which had been relatively quiet since the uprising against Assad erupted in March last year.

Wednesday's explosion went off about 300 meters (yards) from the military command. According to an Associated Press reporter at the scene, the blast was inside the parking lot of a military compound. The lot is near the Dama Rose Hotel, popular with the U.N. observers in Syria and where many of the mission staff are staying.

It was not immediately clear who was behind Wednesday's explosion or what was the intended target. There have been several high-profile bombings in the Syrian capital. On July 18, an explosion in a key government headquarters in Damascus killed four top generals, including Assad's brother-in-law. And in March, a double suicide bombing in Damascus killed 27 people.

"Those who carry out such terrorist attacks are destroying their country in order to get some pounds," shouted a Damascus resident, Ali Mohammed Ismail, 48, who said he happened to be in the area when the explosion went off.

AP writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Albert Aji in Damascus and Guido Goulart in Dili , East Timor contributed to this report.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Security Council will let the U.N. military observer mission's mandate in Syria expire Sunday and will back a new civilian office there to support U.N. and Arab League efforts to end the country's 18-month conflict.

France's U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud, the current Security Council president, said Thursday that members agreed to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's proposal for a liaison office.

Araud said the council agreed that conditions set for possibly extending the mission of the unarmed observers past Sunday were not met. He says there was no halt to the Syrian government's use of heavy weapons and no significant reduction in violence.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said an action group will meet Friday to call for an end to the violence.

"More than 18,000 people have been killed during the last 18 months," Ban told reporters in East Timor on Wednesday. "The Syrian people have suffered too much too long."

The Security Council initially authorized the 300-strong observer mission to deploy to Syria for 90 days to monitor implementation of a six-point peace plan brokered by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan. The plan was to start with a cease-fire and withdrawal of the government's heavy weapons and culminate with Syrian-led political talks.

Assad's government and opposition forces agreed to the plan, but it was never implemented.

Because of the worsening bloodshed and insecurity, the observers have been mainly confined to their hotels since June 15, and their numbers have been cut by about two-thirds. The U.N. said Wednesday that 110 observers remain in Syria, mainly in Damascus. A bomb exploded Wednesday outside their hotel, wounding three people, but no observers were hurt.

Frustrated at the escalating conflict and the failure of world powers on the Security Council to unite to stop the chaos, Annan announced last month that he was resigning effective Aug. 31.

Russia and China have vetoed three Western-backed Security Council resolutions that would have stepped up pressure especially against the Syrian government by threatening sanctions if the fighting didn't stop.