The U.N. Security Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for another year, with no major operational changes.

In a resolution unanimously adopted, the 15-member body urged all parties to abide by their obligations and respect the safety of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon.

Israeli media and officials sought to calm the public on Thursday, as queues for gas masks lengthened amid expectations of a US-led military strike against neighboring Syria.

"Keep calm and carry on" was the headline of a front-page analysis in the Jerusalem Post, echoing a World War II British government slogan.

Israel warned on Thursday Syria of any attack carried out by Hizbullah against the Jewish state in the coming days to respond to an expected Western attack, saying that is Damascus will be held responsible.

“They cannot play the game that Hizbullah is somehow an independent actor,” the Jerusalem Post quoted an Israeli official as saying.

The Israeli air force struck a Palestinian group in Lebanon on Friday, officials said, hours after a different organization said it fired four rockets at the Jewish state from Lebanon.

Israeli aircraft "targeted a terror site located between Beirut and Sidon in response to a barrage of four rockets launched at northern Israel yesterday (Thursday)," the military said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday called the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria "terribly disturbing", accusing Iran of using the country as a "testing ground".

"The reported use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians is terribly disturbing," he said in a statement.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is committed to pursuing peace talks with Israel despite the unresolved issue of Israeli settlement building, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said here Tuesday.

"I'll be talking to president Abbas today ... and he is committed to continuing to come to the negotiation because he believes that negotiation is what will resolve this issue," Kerry said in Brasilia.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday slammed the EU's stance on Jewish settlements in the West Bank, saying they would hamper peace talks with the Palestinians.

His criticism came after Israel approved the construction of more than 1,000 new settlement units, in a move which infuriated Palestinians ahead of Wednesday's resumption of peace negotiations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was recovering on Sunday after a hernia operation overnight in a Jerusalem hospital, his office said in a statement.

Surgery, at the prestigious Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital, was successful and lasted about an hour, it added.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour has warned that Lebanon would confront Israelis “bats” with landmines after four soldiers were injured following an incursion into Lebanese territories early Wednesday.

“They have their bats and we have landmines,” Mansour told As Safir newspaper published Thursday.

The population in Israel's controversial West Bank settlements has grown twice as much as in Israel itself, military radio said on Tuesday, quoting official statistics.

The figures released by the interior ministry are likely to add to Palestinian misgivings about resuming peace talks in Washington last week with the Israelis. The talks broke down three years ago over the settlement issue.