President Barack Obama attempted to rally allied commanders around his emerging strategy to defeat Islamic State jihadists on Tuesday, as the U.S.-led air armada stepped up its raids in Syria.

Coalition jets carried out two dozen strikes to relieve pressure on Kobane, but Obama admitted to deep concern about the Syrian border town's fate and he warned of a long campaign ahead. 

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry vehemently stressed on Saturday that his country stands by Lebanon in its war against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Media reports said that Kerry lauded in a letter sent to Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil the endeavors undertaken by the Lebanese state in its war against terrorism.

The United States could make its borders and cities perfectly secure, Department of Homeland Security chief Jeh Johnson said Thursday, but the result would be "a prison."

Speaking on steps Washington has taken to stem the recent flood of illegal immigration, Johnson said homeland security means balancing civil liberties and protection.

Canadian lawmakers voted Tuesday to join the international coalition launching air strikes on the Islamic State group in Iraq.

The Secret Service lost more than its boss over the cascade of security lapses which cast doubt on its capacity to fulfill its prime mission: protecting President Barack Obama.

The agency, known for sharp-suited agents in mirror shades whispering into shirt cuff microphones, became a punchline.

U.S. and French defense chiefs on Thursday discussed the possibility of France taking part in the American-led air war against Islamic State jihadists in Syria, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said.

Former Pentagon chief Leon Panetta has denounced the White House in a new memoir, accusing President Barack Obama's top aides of undercutting efforts to secure a deal in 2011 that could have kept U.S. troops in Iraq.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit back at the White House after Washington criticized Israeli plans to build thousands more settler homes in east Jerusalem, Israeli media reported on Thursday.

Public radio quoted Netanyahu as telling U.S. President Barack Obama in talks in Washington Wednesday to "study the facts and details before making statements" about the settlement plan.

A skeptical Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday directly warned U.S. President Barack Obama not to accept any Iran deal that would allow Tehran to become a "threshold nuclear power."

Netanyahu and Obama renewed their often prickly relationship in the Oval Office, meeting for the first time since their governments swapped some of the harshest rhetoric in years over the Gaza crisis.

Afghanistan and the United States on Tuesday signed a deal to allow about 10,000 U.S. troops to stay in the country next year, as new President Ashraf Ghani took a major step towards mending frayed ties with Washington.

Hamid Karzai, who stood down as president on Monday, had refused to sign the deal -- a disagreement that symbolized the breakdown of Afghan-U.S. relations after the optimism of 2001 when the Taliban were ousted from power.