The regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday called on the UN Security Council to class the jihadist Al-Nusra Front as an Al-Qaeda-linked group, state news agency SANA said. In a letter to the United Nations, the Syrian foreign ministry said it "expects the Security Council to fulfil its role and preserve global security," the agency added. "Syria has asked the UN Security Council to include Al-Nusra Front on its list of organisations linked to Al-Qaeda," said a statement referring to UN resolution 1267/1989 that set up the UN Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee.

The head of Syria's jihadist Al-Nusra Front on Wednesday pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in an audio message, but distanced his group from claims it had merged with Al-Qaeda in Iraq. "The sons of Al-Nusra Front pledge allegiance to Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri," Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani said in the recording. But, he added, "we were not consulted" on an announcement by Al-Qaeda in Iraq chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Tuesday of a merger with Al-Nusra Front.

Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri has urged Syrian rebels to fight to establish an Islamic state in the war-torn country, in an audio message posted online on Sunday. "Let your fight be in the name of Allah and with the aim of establishing Allah's sharia (law) as the ruling system," he said in his first message on the Internet since November last year. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime dismisses the rebels as "terror" groups and Al-Qaeda Islamists. Fears of extremist Islamism playing a growing role in the conflict have contributed to curbing efforts to arm the rebels.

At least four Pakistani soldiers were killed on Friday during an operation against militants in the troubled tribal belt on the Afghan border, officials said. The fighting took place in the Tirah valley of Khyber district, where the military has been bombarding Taliban and other militants who pose a fresh threat to the nearby northwestern city of Peshawar, a key battleground in upcoming elections.