President Barack Obama faces a familiar question as he contemplates airstrikes in Syria: Should Congress have a say in his decision?

Obama was barreling toward strikes last summer when he abruptly announced that he first wanted approval from congressional lawmakers. But Congress balked at Obama's request for a vote and the operation was eventually scrapped.

Syrian Ambassador Ali Abdul Karim Ali has blamed the jihadists' advance on Lebanon earlier this month on the country's dissociation policy and the government's alleged compliance with regional and international pressure.

The diplomat accused the Lebanese authorities of turning a blind eye to the infiltration of Syria-based gunmen from illegal border crossings and of releasing suspects who have admitted to carrying out terrorist activities in Syria and Lebanon.

In Syria's Aleppo, devastated by two years of fighting and regime attacks, rebels and activists are eager for U.S. strikes against jihadists they say have stolen their anti-government uprising.

The mother of a U.S. hostage who has been threatened with death by jihadist militants pleaded for his life on Wednesday amid mounting fears for Americans captured in Syria.

Last week's murder of journalist James Foley by the so-called Islamic State has focused attention on other American hostages, including 31-year-old freelancer Steven Sotloff.

Syria's President Bashar Assad formed a new government on Wednesday, two months after his reelection, leaving key ministries untouched as a brutal war continues to ravage his country.

The new line-up includes 11 new ministers, but leaves Prime Minister Wael al-Halaqi, Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and Defense Minister General Fahd al-Freij in their posts.

The Arab Tawhid Party announced on Wednesday that it was closing all of its offices in Syria in light of the emerging reports of a spike in clashes in predominantly Druze region of Swieda in the neighboring country, said the National News Agency.

The media office of party leader, former minister Wiam Wahhab, added that the Arab Tawhid Party will no longer carry out any activity in Syria.

A U.S. journalist taken hostage by al-Qaida-linked militants in Syria thanked those who supported him during his two years in captivity Wednesday, saying he was "just overwhelmed with emotion."

Peter Theo Curtis, 45, made a brief statement to reporters outside his mother Nancy Curtis's house in Cambridge, Massachusets, the morning after his return home.

Fifteen Australians, including two young suicide bombers, are believed to have died fighting in Syria and Iraq, intelligence chief David Irvine said Wednesday, warning that espionage and foreign intervention threats were increasing.

Canberra has expressed alarm that around 60 Australians have joined violent jihadist groups such as Islamic State (IS) overseas.

Israel closed off the area around Quneitra on the occupied Golan Heights on Wednesday after an officer was wounded by stray fire as Syrian rebels seized control of the crossing.

The U.N. peacekeeping force which monitors the armistice line said several mortar rounds struck near its positions as rebel fighters, including some from al-Qaida affiliate Al-Nusra Front, stormed the crossing in deadly fighting with government troops.

Iraq was massing forces Wednesday for an operation to break a two-month jihadist siege of the Shiite Turkmen town of Amerli, amid growing fears for residents short of food and water.

The imminent counter-offensive comes amid reports that U.S. President Barack Obama is weighing a decision to authorize air strikes and aid drops in the area to assist around 12,000 residents trapped in the northern town.