Turkish security forces detained four foreign journalists -- three from Italy, one from France -- as they tried to cross into Turkey from war-torn Syria, the official Anatolia news agency said Saturday.

They were arrested at the Mursitpinar border post close to the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane on Thursday, Anatolia said, adding that they now faced deportation.

Syria's best-known mosaic museum in the northern rebel-held town of Maaret al-Numan has been seriously damaged in a regime barrel bomb attack, according to archaeological experts.

The Association for the Protection of Syrian Archaeology said the museum "suffered serious damage caused by two explosive-packed barrels dropped on Monday by Syrian army helicopters."

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday he is ready to "push" his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad towards introducing reforms in the war-torn country, while vowing to continue to support his ally.

"We are ready to work with Assad so that he engages in a process of political change," Putin said at the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Islamic jihadists fuelled a major spike in terror attacks last year, with the global death toll soaring 81 percent in more than 1,100 assaults a month, the United States said Friday.

There were 13,463 attacks in 95 countries in 2014 -- up by a third from 9,700 the year before -- with Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan bearing the brunt of extremist violence, the State Department said in a report.

Representatives of some of Syria's leading pro-government tribes on Friday rejected support from Jordan's King Abdullah II against the Islamic State group, accusing him of backing "terrorists."

Their comments came after the Jordanian monarch, in a meeting with tribal leaders in his country, pledged to support tribes in areas of Syria and Iraq where the jihadists are operating.

Iran and Qatar should "get over their differences" and boost relations to ensure regional stability, Qatar's emir has told Iran's president as the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan gets underway.

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and President Hassan Rouhani also called in a telephone conversation Thursday night for an end to violence in the region during the holy month, Iran's ISNA news agency reported Friday.

Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas has said that the crisis of Syrian refugees is a national cause that requires a political state of emergency to overcome its repercussions.

“The issue of the displaced Syrians should not cause political tension,” Derbas told An Nahar daily on Friday, a day after he referred a detailed report on the refugees to Prime Minister Tammam Salam and several cabinet ministers.

The U.S. is struggling to implement its training program for moderate Syrian rebels fighting the Islamic State group, according to figures released Thursday by the Pentagon.

Only "100 to 200" fighters have actively begun training at U.S. sites in Jordan and Turkey, according to Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren, of the 5,000 forces the military says it wants to train over the year.

Rebel fire killed eight people in Syria's second city Aleppo Thursday, the latest in a spate of civilian deaths in government-held districts this week, a monitoring group said.

"A large rocket knocked down a three-floor building in Sharea Tishreen and killed eight people," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Refugees seeking to return to the Syrian town of Tal Abyad after fleeing fighting there last week were stuck on the Turkish side of the border Thursday amid conflicting accounts over who closed the frontier.

Turkish authorities said refugees were not able to cross because Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia had closed the gate on the other side of the border.