The U.N. envoy to Syria on Wednesday invited Syrians to take part in what he called "thematic" discussions to keep alive stalled efforts to negotiate an end to the war.

"Sadly there is still no consensus on the way forward," Staffan de Mistura told the U.N. Security Council after two months of meetings with key players in the conflict.

Turkey's allies know it is playing a double game with its twin onslaught against Kurdish rebels and the Islamic State group, but are turning a blind eye to keep NATO's only Muslim member on side, analysts said.

The very public show of solidarity for Turkey's fight against "terrorism" at an emergency NATO meeting on Tuesday hid the discomfort some allies feel about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's strategy.

Syria's foreign ministry said Wednesday it was skeptical about Turkish efforts to fight the Islamic State group, in its first official reaction since Ankara began air strikes against the jihadists.

"It is better late than never, but are Turkish intentions to fight the terrorists of Daesh (IS), al-Nusra Front, and al-Qaida-linked groups genuine?" the ministry asked in a letter to the United Nations.

A member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command was killed in a blast in the central Bekaa region, reported the National News Agency on Wednesday.

It said that six members of the PFLP-GC were wounded in the explosion, one critically.

Turkish warplanes on Wednesday pounded targets of PKK militants in northern Iraq, as parliament was to meet in emergency session to debate the government's controversial campaign against Kurdish rebels and jihadists.

Turkey's military campaign -- which the government says was it was forced to carry out after a series of attacks blamed on Islamic State (IS) jihadists and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants -- has inflamed tensions in Turkey after its inconclusive June elections. 

A self-professed Islamic State group supporter in the U.S. state of Florida was charged with attempting to set off a backpack bomb, the FBI said.

Harlem Suarez, 23, from Key West, Florida drew authorities' attention because of his extremist Facebook posts, the FBI said Tuesday.

U.N. aid chief Stephen O'Brien said Tuesday that he hoped to secure better humanitarian access to Syrians most in need during his maiden visit to Damascus next month.

Speaking to the Security Council he expressed hope that the visit "will provide an opportunity to constructively engage with the government to address some of the significant access challenges that seriously impede humanitarian operations."

Al-Qaida and other rebels led a major offensive Tuesday in northwest Syria, pushing back government troops in an area bordering President Bashar Assad's coastal heartland, a monitoring group said.

Since Monday night, the Army of Conquest alliance has seized a number of positions from the Syrian army in Sahl al-Ghab, a large plain in Hama province bordering Latakia, bastion of the Assad clan.

Syrian troops and Kurdish fighters ousted the Islamic State group from Hasakeh Tuesday, more than a month after the jihadists launch an assault on the northeastern city, a monitoring group said.

Government troops and Kurdish forces, who share control of the city, had been battling since June 25 to push IS forces out of the city, which is the capital of Hasakeh province.

Saudi King Salman has expressed support for Turkey after it launched air strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria and Kurdish militants in Iraq, state media reported on Tuesday.

The king told President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday that he backed Turkey's right to self-defense, the official Saudi Press Agency said.