A new round of talks between Syria's warring sides dragged into a third day Wednesday amid signs that Russia aimed to play a greater role in trying to break the deadlock.

Representatives of President Bashar Assad's regime and the opposition National Coalition were holding face-to-face negotiations in Geneva, as they did Tuesday, according to the U.N.

The Israeli authorities have blocked 70 patients from Gaza from entering Israel to receive medical treatment because their transfer documents were marked "State of Palestine", officials told AFP on Wednesday.

Until recently, official stationery has used the term "Palestinian territories".

Syria's air force carried out 15 air strikes against the strategic rebel-held Yabrud area near Damascus on Wednesday, as the army escalated a campaign there, activists and a monitor said.

The army meanwhile advanced on Jarajir, a village near Yabrud and on the Lebanese border, a military source told Agence France Presse.

Kuwait has described its relations with Tehran as "excellent" despite mounting tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia, particularly over Syria, where the two regional powers support opposite sides.

Kuwait's relations with Iran are "excellent, historical and developing," the official KUNA news agency cited foreign ministry undersecretary Khaled al-Jarallah as saying late Tuesday.

The Tripoli headquarters of Libya's Alassema privately owned television channel was attacked early Wednesday, with three powerful blasts heard, an Agence France Presse journalist said.

A source at the broadcaster said three rocket-propelled grenades were fired at the building, and that a guard was lightly wounded.

Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is likely to become Egypt's next president, headed to Russia accompanied by Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy on Wednesday to discuss bilateral cooperation, the army said.

Field Marshal Sisi, who is also Egypt's defense minister and deputy prime minister, and Fahmy would hold "2+2" talks with their Russian counterparts, army spokesman Colonel Ahmed Aly said in a statement.

Operations to evacuate civilians from besieged parts of Syria's Homs and deliver aid resumed on Wednesday after being suspended for a day, the provincial governor told Agence France Presse.

"At 11:00 am (0900 GMT), food aid was able to enter the Old City of Homs," Talal Barazi told AFP.

Violence in Iraq's Anbar province, where militants control all of one city and parts of another, has displaced up to 300,000 people in six weeks, the United Nations has said.

The province has been hit by a surge in fighting between pro- and anti-government forces that began at the end of last year, as Iraq suffers its worst violence since 2008.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet his Gulf Arab counterparts on February 18 for talks expected to focus on the Syria conflict, a Kuwaiti official has said.

Foreign ministry undersecretary Khaled al-Jarallah said the Kuwait City talks, part of regular strategic meetings between the two sides, will discuss topics including the Syrian issue, the official KUNA news agency reported overnight Tuesday.

Syria's Red Crescent was on standby Wednesday to resume evacuating civilians from besieged neighborhoods of central Homs city, after operations were suspended for a day over "logistical difficulties".

Red Crescent head of operations Khaled Erksoussi said his teams were waiting for the conclusion of a daily meeting between the United Nations and Homs's governor, Talal Barazi.