France's top diplomat held talks in Baghdad on Thursday about transferring foreign jihadists including French nationals from northern Syria, where a Turkish offensive is under way, to be tried in Iraq.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday to push for a ceasefire in Syria after Ankara rebuffed international pressure to halt its deadly offensive against Kurdish forces.

Thirty-five foreigners were killed and four others injured when a bus collided with another heavy vehicle near the Muslim holy city of Medina, Saudi state media said on Thursday.

The accident on Wednesday involved a collision between "a private chartered bus... with a heavy vehicle (loader)" near the western Saudi Arabian city, a spokesman for Medina police said, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

Syrian regime troops and Russian soldiers on Wednesday entered the key border town of Kobane, following a deal struck with Kurdish authorities amid a deadly Turkish offensive, a war monitor said.

Hundreds of Syrian Kurds entered neighboring Iraqi's Kurdish autonomous region on Wednesday, fleeing a Turkish invasion, an official said.

A senior U.S. administration official insisted Wednesday that President Donald Trump's pullout from Syria will not change his hard line on Iran, a key ally of President Bashar al-Assad.

The U.N. Security Council warned in a unanimously adopted statement Wednesday of a risk of "dispersion" of jihadist prisoners in Syria, but stopped short of calling for a halt to Turkey's offensive against Kurdish forces there.

Two Belgian jihadists have escaped from detention in northeast Syria since Turkey launched an offensive against Kurdish forces in the region, the head of the national anti-terrorist agency said Wednesday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday firmly ruled out any negotiations with Kurdish militants in Syria, saying their only option was to lay down arms and retreat.

The Syrian army deployed alongside Kurdish forces on the front line in northern Syria Wednesday but their newfound cooperation saw no let-up in the week-old Turkish invasion, a monitor said.