Thousands of Syrians in rebel-held areas took to the streets on Friday to protest against a proposal from Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu for reconciliation between the Syrian government and opposition.

Turkey has fervently opposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, backing rebels calling for his removal and opening its doors to refugees.

Cavusoglu's comments were seen as an apparent easing of Ankara's long-standing hostility towards Assad's government and enraged the Syrian opposition and rebel groups.

Syria's autonomous Kurdish region transferred to the Iraqi government more than 600 relatives of Islamic State group members who were detained at the notorious Al-Hol camp, a monitor said Friday.

It is the fourth operation of its kind this year from the camp, which lies less than 10 kilometres (six miles) from the Iraqi border.

In the latest transfer, around "620 people, relatives of IS members, left Al-Hol", coordinated between the camp administration and the Iraqi government, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement.

FIFA and Qatar organisers on Friday counted the cost of bringing forward the start of the World Cup by a day as they launched the 100-day countdown to the event.

Football's ruling body and the wealthy Gulf state both promised to help fans, sponsors and broadcasters hit by the change but did not give details.

The organising committee said "huge excitement" was building for the World Cup, which will now start on November 20, but only a small group of migrant workers gathered at the main countdown clock on the Doha seafront to see the 100 days tick over.

Widespread protests were called in Syria's rebel-held north on Friday over a proposal from Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu for reconciliation between the Syrian government and opposition.

"We have to somehow get the opposition and the regime to reconcile in Syria. Otherwise, there will be no lasting peace, we always say this," Cavusoglu said Thursday, in remarks to diplomats.

Iran plans to commission three more versions of a satellite launched this week by Russia, Tehran's government spokesman said Friday.

The Khayyam blasted into orbit on Tuesday, prompting US accusations that it is intended for spying. Iran dismissed Washington's claim as "childish."

"The construction of three other Khayyam satellites with the participation of Iranian scientists is on the government's agenda," its spokesman Ali Bahadori-Jahromi said on Twitter.

A Soyuz-2.1b rocket sent the satellite into orbit from the Moscow-controlled Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Facing a bank of screens that look like NASA mission command, technicians counting down to the World Cup in Qatar control the temperature, gates, 15,000 cameras and much more in the eight stadiums.

The Aspire control and command centre will monitor all stadiums at once, as Qatar pulls out all the technical stops to keep an eye on the anticipated one million plus visitors from the moment they get off the plane to moment they leave.

Mohamed gave up farming because of successive droughts that have hit his previously fertile but isolated village in Morocco and because he just couldn't bear it any longer.

"To see villagers rush to public fountains in the morning or to a neighbour to get water makes you want to cry," the man in his 60s said.

"The water shortage is making us suffer," he told AFP in Ouled Essi Masseoud village, around 140 kilometres (87 miles) from the country's economic capital Casablanca.

FIFA on Thursday officially brought forward the opening match of this year's World Cup by one day to November 20 in a rare change so that hosts Qatar feature in the gala game.

Football's top officials universally approved the decision, FIFA said in a statement while Qatar said it would give unspecified help to fans affected by the change.

On the old schedule, Qatar against Ecuador was to be the official inauguration match on November 21 but Senegal against Netherlands would be the first match of the day. England against Iran would have been second.

Iraq has agreed to renew a one-year deal to provide Lebanon with fuel for its power plants in exchange for in-kind services, Lebanon's Prime Minister said in a statement Thursday.

Iraq signed an agreement in July 2021 to give cash-strapped Lebanon one million tonnes of fuel oil to help keep the lights on as the country grapples with power cuts up to 23 hours a day during an unprecedented economic crisis.

Bystanders hailed as a hero an armed customer who held bank staff hostage for hours Thursday in Lebanon because he couldn't access funds frozen after the country's economic collapse.

The suspect, identified only as Bassam, was armed with a rifle and had doused the interior of the bank with gasoline, security sources said.

But after eight hours the standoff ended peacefully.

"Bassam you are a hero!" cheering bystanders chanted outside the bank.