Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Thursday said he discussed with U.S. President Barack Obama the issues of the presidency and supporting the Lebanese army, as the American leader stressed the importance of deterring the terrorist threat against Lebanon.

In remarks to LBCI television after he met Obama along with the patriarchs of the Orient, al-Rahi said the U.S. president promised him to “protect Lebanon from the repercussions of everything that is happening in the region,” revealing that talks tackled the stalled presidential vote and military support for the Lebanese army.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil stressed Thursday during talks in Jeddah the importance of not “excluding any country or party” that is willing to counter the Islamic State and asked for military assistance to the Lebanese Army.

“There shouldn't be any exclusion of countries or parties that are willing to counter IS, since there is no reason or justification for such a rejection,” said Bassil during a meeting between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Arab and Turkish counterparts aimed at building an anti-IS coalition.

Britain won't join the United States in air strikes against Islamic State jihadist fighters in Syria, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Thursday, without ruling out similar action in Iraq.

"Let me be clear Britain will not be taking part in any air strikes in Syria," he said in Berlin.

A "particularly dangerous" man suspected of recruiting jihadists and cultivating links with terrorist groups in Syria has been arrested in Turkey and handed over to French authorities, France's interior minister said Thursday.

Mourad Fares was arrested on August 16 in Turkey and taken into custody in France on Wednesday, Bernard Cazeneuve said in a statement.

U.S. President Barack Obama has pledged a "relentless" war against the jihadist Islamic State, raising crucial questions about U.S. plans to aid rebel groups and carry out air strikes in Syria.

-- How is the Syrian regime likely to respond to U.S. air strikes and training of rebels?

U.S. air strikes on Syrian territory without permission from the government in Damascus would be an "attack" on the country, a Syrian minister said Thursday.

"Any action of any kind without the consent of the Syrian government would be an attack on Syria," National Reconciliation Minister Ali Haidar said when asked about U.S. plans to widen its operations against Islamic State (IS) jihadists with air strikes on Syrian territory.

Al-Qaida linked rebels in Syria on Thursday released a group of 45 Fijian U.N. peacekeepers they kidnapped two weeks ago in the Golan Heights, a U.N. spokesman said.

The peacekeepers, snatched from Quneitra on the Syrian side of the strategic plateau on August 28 by fighters from the al-Nusra Front, were released unharmed and in "good condition," the spokesman said.

Cameroon's claims this week that two Tuareg fighters were among the dead when troops bombarded Boko Haram positions have sparked fresh interest in the group's links to the wider jihadi network.

Air strikes by Syrian warplanes killed at least 28 people Thursday, including 11 civilians in a raid on Islamic State (IS) jihadists, a monitoring group said.

"Warplanes carried out six raids on Thursday against al-Bab" in the north of the country, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The world must confront "terrorist groups" in Syria and beyond but the war-ravaged country also requires a political solution, the UN's new envoy on the conflict said in Damascus on Thursday.