Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday accused the United States of resorting to "military interference" to defend its interests, in a veiled reference to the air campaign in Syria.

"Washington has openly declared its right to unilateral use of force anywhere to uphold its own interests," Lavrov told the U.N. General Assembly.

National Security Adviser Susan Rice reaffirmed U.S. commitment to supporting Syria's moderate opposition at a meeting in Washington with a delegation from the Syrian National Coalition, the White House said Saturday.

The Friday meeting came as the United States and coalition partners broaden air strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria, with a defense official telling Agence France-Presse that "near continuous" combat sorties were being conducted there, as in Iraq.

Rocket fire by jihadists from the Islamic State group hit the besieged Syrian Kurdish town of Ain al-Arab on Saturday for the first time, wounding 12 people, a monitor said.

The report comes as the U.S.-led coalition widened its campaign of air strikes against IS targets to include fighters around the town on the Turkish border, known as Kobane by the Kurds.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey could take a military role in the coalition fighting Islamic State (IS) militants as Ankara moves to take a frontline position in the campaign, the Hurriyet daily reported Saturday.

In comments made aboard his presidential plane to Turkish reporters as he traveled back from the United States, Erdogan also indicated he backed the use of ground troops inside Syria, Hurriyet reported on its website.

Three Frenchmen arrested in Turkey after traveling to Syria were charged Saturday with planning terrorist acts, one of their lawyers said. 

The men, who were the subject of a high-profile judicial bungle this week after their arrest in Turkey, were being charged with "criminal association with the aim of planning terrorist acts", lawyer Pierre Dunac told Agence France-Presse.

Al-Qaida's Syria affiliate, al-Nusra Front, called on the Lebanese authorities Saturday to discuss its terms for the release of troops and police taken captive last month, and accused Hizbullah of impeding the negotiations.

Al-Nusra Front killed one of the hostages who were captured in fighting in the town of Arsal near the Syrian border. Jihadists of the Islamic State group beheaded the other two.

The U.S.-led coalition hit Islamic State group targets in Syria's central province of Homs for the first time Saturday as it pressed what Washington says are "near continuous" strikes, a monitoring group said.

The coalition also targeted IS in the town of Minbej, east of second city Aleppo, for the first time, as well as multiple targets in the jihadist heartland province of Raqa, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq stated on Saturday that he will call for the relocation of Syrian refugees out of the northeastern town of Arsal as tension runs high and clashes aggravate, As Safir daily reported.

“I will call for the relocation of Syrian refugees outside Arsal during Thursday's cabinet session,” Mashnouq said, “because things cannot stay the way they are.”

The International Support Group for Lebanon has condemned the hostage taking of Lebanese troops and policemen by jihadists in the northeastern border town of Arsal and reiterated a pledge to strengthen the Lebanese army to confront terrorists.

Participants in the meeting of the Group that was held in New York on Friday said that “the recent attacks by violent extremist groups in Arsal had highlighted immediate priority needs on the part of both the LAF (Lebanese Armed Forces) and the security forces, including in regard to border control and counter-terrorism.”

The U.S.-led coalition widened its air strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria Saturday as British warplanes took off on anti-jihadist missions over neighboring Iraq.