Syrian state media said a US-led anti-jihadist coalition killed an Iraqi leader from the Islamic State group during an operation on Wednesday in the country's northwest.

"Coalition forces carried out an air drop targeting a house in the town of Atme" in Idlib province, state television cited an unidentified security source as saying.

By Emma Farge and Olivia Le Poidevin

GENEVA (Reuters) -International aid groups say they have not yet been able to deliver shelter materials to Gaza despite Israeli authorities saying they have lifted restrictions on such supplies, and warn that further delays could cause more Palestinian deaths.

Aid organisations say Israel had in effect been blocking the delivery of materials for shelters for nearly six months, with tent poles previously listed among items Israeli authorities considered could have a military as well as civilian use.

ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkey supports efforts to establish a permanent peace in Ukraine with the participation of all parties, President Tayyip Erdogan told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a phone call on Wednesday, the Turkish presidency said.

Erdogan also told Putin he was closely following developments related to the process, and that Turkey had strived for a just peace since the beginning of the war, it said.

(Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)

By Joshua McElwee

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Leo plans to visit Lebanon, the country's senior Catholic official announced on Wednesday, in what could be the first visit outside Italy by the new leader of the global Church.

The pope will travel to Lebanon "by December", Cardinal Bechara Rai told the al-Arabiya television channel.

Rai, leader of the 3.5-million-member Maronite Catholic Church, did not give a specific date for the visit but said "preparations are already underway".

Israel approved a major settlement project on Wednesday in an area of the occupied West Bank that the international community has warned threatens the viability of a future Palestinian state.

Israel has long had ambitions to build on the roughly 12-square-kilometre (five-square-mile) parcel known as E1 just east of Jerusalem, but the plan had been stalled for years amid international opposition.

By Mark Trevelyan

(Reuters) -Belarus and Iran - two countries that have backed Russia's war in Ukraine - plan to deepen bilateral ties across all areas including defence, their presidents said at talks in Minsk on Wednesday.

Belarusian state news agency Belta said presidents Alexander Lukashenko and Masoud Pezeshkian agreed to work on a strategic partnership treaty.

KABUL (Reuters) -China told Afghanistan on Wednesday that Beijing was keen on exploring and mining minerals in Afghanistan and wanted Kabul to formally join its Belt and Road Initiative, the Afghan Taliban foreign ministry said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is visiting Kabul and held talks with Afghanistan's acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, the ministry said in a statement, adding that both countries wanted to expand cooperation in a range of areas.

BERLIN (Reuters) -German prosecutors have charged a Russian national they suspect of planning an attack on the Israeli embassy in Berlin and of trying to join militant organisation Islamic State, they said on Wednesday.

Prosecutors believe the accused, identified only as Akhmad E. in line with German privacy rules, obtained instructions from the Internet on how to make explosives but the plan failed as he could not get the components he needed.

By Patricia Zengerle and Jason Lange

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A 58% majority of Americans believe that every country in the United Nations should recognize Palestine as a nation, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, as Israel and Hamas considered a possible truce in the nearly two-year-long war.

Some 33%of respondents did not agree that U.N. members should recognize a Palestinian state and 9% did not answer.

Hundreds of supporters of Irish rap band Kneecap protested outside a London court Wednesday, as one of the band members appeared charged with a terrorism offence for allegedly supporting Hezbollah.

Liam O'Hanna, 27, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was charged in May accused of displaying a Hezbollah flag during a London concert in November.

He arrived at Westminster Magistrates' Court in central London with other band members to cheers from a sea of supporters brandishing banners and chanting "Free Palestine" and "Free Mo Chara".