Turkish warplanes earlier Friday bombed three targets controlled by Islamic State (IS) jihadists up to 14 kilometers inside Syrian territory, the official Anatolia news agency reported.

Citing an official statement, it said that a three-story building used as a meeting place for IS jihadists in the El Tabiye area was hit 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) inside Syrian territory from the Turkish border. 

Turkish police on Friday used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse a protest by hundreds of people in Istanbul to denounce violence by Islamic State group jihadists, an AFP photographer reported.

Some 500 people turned out for the protest in the Kadikoy district on the Asian side of Istanbul to condemn Monday's suicide bombing in Suruc blamed on IS that killed 32 pro-Kurdish activists close to the Syrian border.

Two Swedish men were charged in Sweden Friday over "terrorist crimes" committed in Syria in 2013, the first in the Scandinavian country to be arrested over such offenses.

The suspects, aged 30 and 32, were arrested Thursday and have both denied any wrongdoing when they were brought before a court Friday in western Sweden. 

Turkey's air strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria, and Ankara's consent to the U.S. using a key airbase to launch attacks on the jihadists, mark a break with its previous "complacency", analysts said.

The new strategy effectively makes Turkey a full member of the U.S.-led coalition against IS jihadists but raises the risk of cross-border reprisals and could give a stronger hand to Kurdish militants, they said.

Syria's two main opposition groups settled longstanding differences Friday to agree that President Bashar Assad must step down in any deal to end the country's bloody conflict.

The issue has dogged efforts to get the exiled but widely recognized Syrian National Coalition and the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change (NCCDC), which is tolerated by the Syrian authorities, to agree a common platform.

An international agreement on Iran's nuclear program will not alter Tehran's staunch support for the Syrian government and may even strengthen Damascus, Syria's foreign minister said Friday.

Speaking at a conference in Damascus on "confronting terrorism", Walid Muallem said those who hoped to persuade Iran to abandon Syria's government would be disappointed.

Turkey's leaders on Friday confirmed a landmark deal with the United States on the use of a key air base near Syria, after Washington said American jets would be able to use the facility to launch raids against jihadists.

Hurriyet daily said the agreement for U.S. planes to use Incirlik base in southern Turkey provided for a 90-kilometer (56 mile) no-fly zone between the Syrian towns of Marea and Jarabulus to the east.

Turkey on Friday vowed to press on with operations against Islamic State (IS) in Syria and other militant groups, after its war planes bombed the jihadists' positions for the first time.

Following the pre-dawn air raids on the IS targets in Syria, Turkish police arrested almost 300 suspected members of IS and pro-Kurdish militant groups nationwide, in one of Turkey's biggest recent crackdowns on extremists. 

Swedish prosecutors on Thursday announced the arrest of two Swedes suspected of committing murder in war-torn Syria, in the nation's first such detentions since the conflict erupted in 2011.

Aged 30 and 32, the two men "are Swedish citizens and live in Gothenburg" in the west of the country, said Ronnie Jacobsson, the prosecutor heading the investigation into "terrorist crimes" in Syria.

Rebels that include al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate announced a fierce offensive on the major southern city of Dara, saying their aim was to "purify" the area.

Operation "Storm of Truth" was announced on Twitter by the Southern Front, an alliance of rebel groups, "to purify the province of Daraa from the filth of the gangs of (President Bashar) Assad."