The United States on Friday called for the creation of a broad international coalition against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria by the time of the U.N. General Assembly this month.

"There is no time to waste in building a broad international coalition to degrade and, ultimately, to destroy the threat posed by ISIL," Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a joint statement.

Dozens of organizations in a joint statement on Friday demanded the immediate release of three prominent Syrian rights activists including journalist Mazen Darwish, who have been held since February 2012.

"The Syrian government should immediately and unconditionally release the arbitrarily detained human rights defender Mazen Darwish" and his colleagues Hussein Ghreir and Hani Zaitani, said the statement signed by 79 groups including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq will tackle the case of the abducted Lebanese soldiers and policemen, who were taken hostage by Islamist gunmen in the northeastern border town of Arsal, with Gulf senior officials.

According to As Safir newspaper on Friday, General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim will accompany Mashnouq to the Qatari capital Doha during the weekend.

The United States expressed concern Thursday that undeclared Syrian chemical weapons could fall into the hands of Islamic extremists.

U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power raised the concerns as a joint U.N. and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons mission winds up an drive to eliminate Syria's chemical arsenal.

The death toll from a Syrian government raid on an Islamic State stronghold in eastern Syria has risen to 18, including an American fighter with the jihadist group, a monitor said Thursday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday's strike destroyed a building being used as a headquarters and a prison by IS militants in Deir Ezzor province.

The Israeli army said it struck a Syrian military position on Thursday after presumed "errant fire" hit the Israeli-occupied sector of the Golan Heights.

A statement from the army said that "at least one projectile hit the northern Golan Heights."

Relatives of the abducted troops and policemen on Thursday called on Army chief General Jean Qahwaji to “arrest all ministers” and swap them for the hostages, warning that the state has 24 hours to act or face unknown consequences.

“We have an initiative that involves the (army's) arrest of all ministers and swapping them for the troops held by the militants out of respect for the state's prestige,” a spokesman for the families said during a lengthy sit-in outside the Grand Serail, where the cabinet was holding a regular session.

Israel sentenced a former Druze MP to 18 months in prison Thursday for traveling to Syria and making contact with a "foreign agent," the justice ministry said.

Said Naffa traveled in 2007 to Syria, with which Israel is technically still at war, as part of a delegation of 300 Druze religious leaders, the charge sheet said.

Hizbullah and Iran's Revolutionary Guards are cooperating in the training process of Iraqi Shiite volunteers, who are waging a war against the Islamic State in their country.

The Kuwaiti al-Rai newspaper reported on Thursday that Hizbullah is conveying its expertise to the Iraqi fighters to combat IS.

Two Lebanese jihadists reportedly beheaded army sergeant Ali al-Sayyed, who was taken captive after Islamist gunmen overran the northeastern border town of Arsal.

According to al-Akhbar newspaper published on Thursday, the masked man, who appears in the photos purporting al-Sayyed's beheading and his accomplice are two Lebanese nationals.