"Don't close your eyes. Stay awake!" the anti-jihadist Syrian fighter yelled at his injured comrade as a Humvee whisked them across the Islamic State group's former stronghold Raqa.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman arrived in Moscow on Wednesday, the first official visit to Russia by a ruler of the Sunni state.

Two men shown on videos disseminated by Islamic State jihadists have been identified as Russian by their respective paramilitary associations Wednesday, though it was unclear why they were in Syria.

The Syrian army and allied fighters drove the Islamic State group from their last positions in the central province of Hama on Wednesday after heavy fighting, a monitor said.

At least four people were killed and 15 others wounded Wednesday in a suicide bomb attack at the main court building in Libya's third-largest city Misrata, security sources told AFP.

Iraqi forces pushed into the Islamic State group bastion of Hawija on Wednesday, stepping up their assault against one the jihadists' last enclaves in the country, the operation's commander said. 

Al-Qaida's former Syria affiliate denied a claim from Moscow on Wednesday that its top leader had been seriously injured in a Russian air strike last month.

"Hayat Tahrir al-Sham denies what was circulated in the media about the injury of Sheikh Abu Mohamed al-Jolani and confirms that the sheikh is in good health and is carrying out fully all the duties entrusted to him," the group said in a statement posted on Telegram.

British foreign minister Boris Johnson came under fire Tuesday for saying Libya could become a magnet for tourists and investors  -- if it can "clear the dead bodies away" first.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov accused US-led forces of carrying out "bloody provocations" against Russian troops in Syria in an interview published by the Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq al-Awsat on Wednesday.

"The activities of US-led forces raise many questions... In some cases, these forces have indirectly encouraged other terrorists to attack strategic positions rightfully regained by Damascus, or they have deliberately engaged in bloody provocations against our forces," Lavrov said.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Tuesday that President Bashar al-Assad has been "victorious" in Syria's civil war and was now being courted by former enemies.