Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has informed the Lebanese government that Ankara is not willing to act as a mediator in the case of the soldiers and policemen who were kidnapped by jihadists last month, As Safir daily reported on Friday.

Turkish officials have also informed the Lebanese authorities that their rejection to mediate stems from the “sensitivity” of the case, Lebanese ministerial sources said.

The Qatari women's basketball team is still hoping for approval to play with their headscarves at the Asian Games, the chief of Qatar's delegation said Thursday, though officials were expected to disqualify the team if it does not relent.

The dispute over the Qatari players' refusal to remove their hijabs — regarded by some as a rule that discriminates against Muslim women — and the subsequent forfeit of a game against Mongolia has created a major stir at the games.

By joining U.S.-led strikes in Syria, Gulf Arab monarchies are hoping to eliminate the threat to their authority from Islamic State jihadists and push the regime in Damascus out of power.

But their plan is not without serious risks, analysts warn.

President Barack Obama thanked Arab leaders Tuesday for joining a US-led coalition aimed at defeating Islamic extremists, winning pledges from his allies that they were in the fight for the long haul.

Speaking just hours after he launched air strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria, Obama said the coalition "represents partners and friends with which we have worked for many, many years to make sure that security and prosperity exists in this region."

President Barack Obama will meet representatives of the five Middle Eastern nations that supported the first U.S. strikes in Syria later on Tuesday, his spokesman said.

Obama will see the officials from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar after he arrives in New York for the United Nations General Assembly meetings, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Air Force One.

The United States and its Arab allies unleashed deadly bomb and missile strikes on jihadists in Syria on Tuesday, opening a new front in the battle against the Islamic State group.

Dozens of IS and Al-Qaida militants were reported to have been killed in the raids, which Washington said had partly targeted extremists plotting an "imminent attack" against the West.

Qatar's envoy, who is tasked with mediating the release of Lebanese soldiers and policemen taken captive by jihadists from a border town, is expected to arrive in Beirut on Friday amid hopes by their families that the hostages will escape beheading.

The envoy, a Syrian, is scheduled to meet with members from the Muslim Scholars Committee and officials close to al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front away from media spotlight.

The families of the troops abducted by Syria-based jihadist groups on Thursday urged the kidnappers to stop threatening to kill more soldiers, as highly-informed sources said negotiations have made “slow progress.”

Prime Minister Tammam “Salam told us that the negotiations have not stopped and that the demands received by the government need some time,” Jamaa Islamiya member Ahmed al-Ayyoubi said on behalf of the families after a meeting with the premier.

A media rights group on Thursday urged Qatar to revoke sections of a new cybercrime law, saying they threaten freedom of expression in the Gulf state.

The corpse of Sergeant Ali al-Sayyed, who was beheaded by jihadists on the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal, sustained two gunshots, As Safir newspaper reported on Thursday.

The daily said that it wasn't clear yet if al-Sayyed was shot before or after his decapitation.