The latest: Lebanon PM welcomes anti-terrorism alliance

MOSCOW (AP) – The latest news on developments in the Syrian conflict. All times local:

4:00 p.m.

Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam is welcoming the formation of a 34-nation, Saudi-led military coalition and says Lebanon has agreed to be part of it because the country "is on the front lines" of the fight against terrorism.

A statement issued by the premier's office Tuesday hailed the alliance as a step in the interest of all Islamic countries which have a "historic responsibility to confront extremism which uses Islam to cover up its crimes."

Salam said Lebanon will not hesitate to endorse any action "that aims to mobilize resources and close ranks against this scourge" which he said constitutes the most significant challenge to the security and stability of the region.

Lebanon has seen frequent spillovers from Syria's civil war next door, as well as sectarian clashes and militant attacks.

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3:30 p.m.

Syrian opposition monitoring groups say airstrikes on a fuel market in a rebel-held village in northern Syria have killed and wounded dozens.

The Local Coordination Committees say Tuesday's airstrikes on Maaret al-Naasan were carried out by Russian warplanes and that they killed and wounded dozens of people.

Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the airstrikes killed and wounded at least 35 people. He said the warplanes were believed to have been Russian.

The market is mostly sells diesel fuel brought from areas under the control of the Islamic State group. The airstrikes are likely part of a campaign to target the oil industry that is a major source of income for IS.

Demand for diesel has been on the rise in northern Syria for heating.

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11:40 a.m.

Turkey has welcomed the formation in Saudi Arabia of a 34-nation military coalition to fight terrorism. The kingdom announced the new "Islamic military alliance" just hours earlier, saying it will have a joint operations center based in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called it the "best response to those who are trying to associate terror and Islam" and said it was a "step in the right direction."

Davutoglu said Tuesday that "Turkey is prepared to make every contribution possible to any meeting related to the fight against terrorism, regardless of where it is organized or by whom it is organized."

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11:30 a.m.

Germany's defense minister has rebuffed a call from the United States for her country to make a greater contribution to the military effort to fight the Islamic State group.

Ursula von der Leyen says Germany is already involved on several military fronts combating extremist groups, including in Mali and Afghanistan.

Asked Tuesday about the U.S. request, von der Leyen told public broadcaster ARD that "I'm going to write back and say, of course, we're on your side, you know that, in the fight against the Islamic State."

Germany would keep supporting the Kurdish peshmerga in northern Iraq, which she described as "the most effective ground troops" fighting IS.

Von der Leyen also noted that Germany was sending surveillance jets "to Syria with very modern technology, that's urgently needed

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10:20 a.m.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has opened talks in Moscow with Russia's foreign minister to try to narrow broad gaps on ways to end Syria's civil war and restore stability in eastern Ukraine.

Kerry was meeting his counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday before seeing Russian President Vladimir Putin in what are expected to be difficult discussions over the ways ahead in each crisis.

Russia and the U.S. are at odds over the mechanics of a political transition aimed at halting the war in Syria as well as the military approach to fighting the Islamic State group. On Ukraine, the two countries are split over the implementation of a February agreement meant to end hostilities between the Kiev government and Russian-backed separatists in the east.