The United Nations is pulling staff out of Syria because of deteriorating security conditions as fighting between rebels and government forces raged near the capital Damascus.

The United Nations has ordered all of its non-essential international staff to leave Syria, saying the escalating violence is making it more risky for humanitarian workers to do their jobs.

A UN plan to provide US $836 million in emergency aid to Syrians battered by their nation’s civil war has run into funding problems despite an additional US donation of $34 million.

Eleven thousand Syrians have fled the country in the past 24 hours, the UN says.

FORCES loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi fought a gun battle with Tunisian troops in a frontier town as Libya’s conflict spilled over its borders.