WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is weighing an offer from Russia to have military-to-military talks and meetings on the situation in Syria amid increasing U.S. concern and uncertainty about Russia's military buildup there, Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday.

Kerry said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had proposed the consultation in a phone call on Tuesday and that the White House, Pentagon and State Department were considering it. Kerry suggested that he favored such an idea, noting that the United States wants a clear picture of what Russia's intentions are in Syria following a recent military buildup there.

Lavrov proposed a "military-to-military conversation and meeting in order to discuss the issue of precisely what will be done to deconflict with respect to any potential risks that might be run and have a complete and clear understanding as to the road ahead and what the intentions are," Kerry told reporters at a joint State Department news conference with South Africa's foreign minister.

"You have a conversation in order to do that," Kerry said. "It is vital to avoid misunderstandings, miscalculations (and) not to put ourselves in a predicament where we are supposing something and the supposition is wrong."

Kerry said Lavrov had told him that Russia was only interested in confronting the threat posed by the Islamic State group in Syria. But Kerry stressed it remained unclear if that position would change and Russia would mount a defense of Syrian President Bashar Assad who the U.S. believes must leave power.

"Obviously, there a questions about that," he said. "I am not taking that at face value."

However, he added that if Russia is only focused on the Islamic State group then it remains a potential partner in pushing for a political transition in Syria. "If Russia is only focused only on ISIL and if there is a capacity for cooperation ... there still is a way to get a political negotiation and outcome," he said.

Kerry also said he had spoken on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who office announced earlier that he would visit Moscow next week to discuss Syria with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

His comment come as Russia's military buildup in Syria has perplexed the Obama administration and left it in a quandary as to how to respond.

In his call with Lavrov on Tuesday, his third in 10 days, Kerry said he sought clarity about Moscow's moves and warned that Russian support for Assad "risks exacerbating and extending the conflict."

In the afterglow of the Iran nuclear deal, which was hailed by the Obama administration as the kind of diplomacy that can be achieved when Russia and the United States cooperate, U.S. officials had hoped for a change in Russia's position about Syria, potentially even enlisting its support to move Assad out.

Moscow's latest actions, however, have taken many by surprise and further muddied efforts to fight Islamic State militants while trying to promote political transition in Syria.

In recent days Russia has sent about a half-dozen battle tanks and other weaponry — along with military advisers, technicians, security guards and portable housing units — to Syria with the apparent goal of setting up an air base near the coastal town of Latakia, a stronghold of the Syrian president.

U.S. officials say Putin's intentions in Syria, particularly in the medium- to long-term, remain a mystery.

"The decision-making process in that country is rather opaque," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said of Russia, adding that Moscow has long used Syria as a "client state."

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Muslim Student Detained for Invention Resembling Bomb That Was Actually a Digital Clock

DALLAS (AP) — A 14-year-old Muslim student will face no criminal charges for taking a homemade clock to class that his suburban Dallas high school teachers thought resembled a bomb, the police chief said Wednesday.

Ahmed Mohamed will not be charged with possessing a hoax bomb because there's no evidence that the boy meant to cause alarm at his school in Irving, police Chief Larry Boyd said at a news conference.

Boyd said the clock that Ahmed built looked "suspicious in nature," but that he considers the case closed.

The teen explained to The Dallas Morning News that he makes his own radios, repairs his own go-kart and on Sunday spent about 20 minutes before bedtime assembling the clock using a circuit board, power supply wired to a digital display and other items.

On Monday, he wanted to show his work to his engineering teacher but was warned to keep the clock in his backpack. When it began beeping during another class, he brought it to that teacher's attention. Shortly afterward, Ahmed was pulled from class and questioned and searched by the principal and Irving officers.

He was then escorted from the school in handcuffs for further questioning by the police.

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Irving MacArthur High School student Ahmed Mohamed, 14, poses for a photo at his home in Irving, Tex …

"We live in an age where you can't take things like that to school," Boyd said.

The boy's family says Ahmed was suspended for three days. It's not clear if he'll be allowed to return to school now that police have said he won't be charged.

School district spokeswoman Lesley Weaver declined to confirm the suspension, citing privacy laws.

The incident drew broad attention, with President Barack Obama inviting Ahmed to the White House.

In a tweet posted Wednesday, Obama called Ahmed's clock "cool" and said more kids should be inspired like him to enjoy science, because "it's what makes America great."

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This photo provided by the Irving Police Department shows the homemade clock that Ahmed Mohamed brou …

The hashtag #IStandWithAhmed was tweeted more than 450,000 times by early Wednesday afternoon.

Ahmed's father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, earlier told the Morning News that his son "just wants to invent good things for mankind. But because his name is Mohamed and because of Sept. 11, I think my son got mistreated."

Weaver insisted school officials were concerned with student safety and not the boy's faith, while Boyd said "the reaction (to the clock) would have been the same regardless" of his religion.

Boyd said police have an "outstanding relationship" with the Muslim community in Irving and that he would meet the boy's father on Wednesday to address any concerns.

This spring, the city council endorsed one of several bills under discussion in the Texas Legislature that would forbid judges from rulings based on "foreign laws" — legislation opponents view as unnecessary and driven by anti-Muslim sentiment.

At a later council meeting, the turnout included some denouncing Islam. One woman declared "Sharia law is Islam, and Islam's goal is to immigrate, assimilate and annihilate." A man sitting in the audience shouted "That is offensive!" and was escorted out.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations is reviewing the action against Ahmed.

"This all raises a red flag for us: how Irving's government entities are operating in the current climate," Alia Salem, executive director of the council's North Texas chapter, told the Morning News.

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Raw: Refugees Stopped at Serbia-Hungary Border

HORGOS, Serbia (AP) — Baton-wielding Hungarian riot police unleashed tear gas and water cannons against hundreds of migrants Wednesday after they broke through a razor-wire fence and tried to surge into the country from Serbia. Crying children fled the acrid smoke and dozens of people were injured in the chaos.

With their path blocked, hundreds of other asylum-seekers turned to a longer, more arduous path to Western Europe through Croatia, where officials said 1,300 had arrived in a single day — a number that was sure to grow.

On the sealed border into Hungary, frustrated men — many of them war refugees from Syria and Iraq — hurled rocks and plastic water bottles at the helmeted riot police as they chanted "Open" Open!" in English. Children and women cried as the young men, their faces wrapped in scarves, charged toward the police through thick smoke from tear gas and tires set on fire by the crowd.

"We fled wars and violence and did not expect such brutality and inhumane treatment in Europe," shouted an Iraqi, Amir Hassan, his eyes red from tear gas and his hair and clothing soaked after being hit by blasts of water cannon spray.

"Shame on you, Hungarians," he shouted pointing in the direction of the shielded Hungarian policemen who were firing volleys of tear gas canisters directly into the crowd.

Around him, women screamed and wailed, covering their faces with scarves as they poured bottled water into their sobbing children's eyes to relieve the stinging. Children gasped from the gas; blood streamed down the face of one man as he ran from the melee, carrying a small child. People fainted from the noxious plumes of tear gas, including one woman who collapsed while holding a baby.

At least two people were seriously injured and 200 to 300 others received medical care for tear gas inhalation and injuries such as cuts, bruises and burns, said Dr. Margit Pajor, who treated people at a medical center in Kanjiza, Serbia.

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Hungarian police use pepper spray at the "Horgos 2" border crossing into Hungary, near Horgos, Serbi …

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed "shock" at the behavior of Hungarian police, calling it unacceptable. Referring to Syria, he said: "People facing barrel bombs and brutality in their country will continue to seek life in another."

Hungarian authorities insisted they acted legitimately in self-defense, describing the migrants as violent and dangerous.

"We will employ all legal means to protect Hungary's border's security," said Gyorgy Bakondi, homeland security adviser to Prime Minister Viktor Orban. "We will not permit violent, armed, aggressive attackers to enter."

The ugly developments in Europe's migrant crisis took place after some of those massed in Serbia broke through a gate. They and hundreds of others had grown desperate after Hungary sealed off its border with Serbia with a razor-wire fence the day before to stop the huge numbers of migrants entering Hungary, which lies on a popular route to Western Europe.

More than 200,000 have entered Hungary this year alone, turning the country into one of the main entry points into Europe for the rising numbers of people fleeing war and persecution in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere.

Orban said Wednesday he plans to also build stretches of fence along the border with Croatia. A day earlier his government said it was also extending the fence along a stretch of its border with Romania. Both Croatia and Romania, like Hungary, are members of the EU, and the moves are straining ties with those allies and herald the unusual prospect of fortress-like barriers between EU states.

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Hungarian police spray water on migrants at the "Horgos 2" border crossing into Hungary, n …

After the clashes with police, chaotic scenes also erupted as some private groups delivered aid in trucks. People fought over food, water and clothing, with no Serbian policemen or anyone else to establish order.

It was clear that Hungary's ties with Serbia were facing deep strains.

Hungary's foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, decried what he called "brutal attacks" by the migrants against Hungarian police and asked Serbian authorities to crack down on the migrants on its soil.

Serbia said it would send more police to the border to separate the migrants from Hungarian police. But Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, on a visit to the United States, condemned the "brutal treatment" of migrants by Hungarian police.

"We will not allow anyone to humiliate us and we will not allow anyone to throw tear gas on Serbia's territory," Vucic said.

Meanwhile, Serbian state television said three of its staff members reporting at the border were beaten by Hungarian police with batons and that their equipment was broken.

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Afghan girl Parisa Sayed Jalil, 4, rests on her father's lap in a field, while they and others a …

Radio-Television Serbia said that Hungarian police pushed a cameraman against the wall and then beat him on the head and back and then smashed his camera. A reporter's arm was also hurt. The beatings occurred while the journalists stood between police and the migrants even though they identified themselves as journalists, the broadcaster said.

Hungarian authorities said they have arrested 519 migrants who tried to cross the border since tough new laws went into effect Tuesday that make it a crime to cross from Serbia anywhere other than at legal checkpoints. Authorities launched 46 criminal prosecutions and found nine people guilty, the first convictions based on the new laws.

The asylum-seekers, who were escorted into court in handcuffs, were expelled from Hungary and banned from re-entering the country for either one or two years. They were provided with lawyers and translators.

Syrian President Bashar Assad blamed Europe for the crisis, saying it was a direct result of the West's support for extremists in Syria over the past four years.

In an interview with Russian media, Assad accused Europe of supporting "terrorism" and providing "protection for terrorists, calling them moderates."

Earlier in the day, Hungary's foreign minister denied the closed borders and tough new laws signaled callousness toward refugees, repeating the government's claim that most of those entering Hungary are actually economic migrants.

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Refugees walk past others resting on the ground at the border station between Serbia and Hungary nea …

"Based on our history, we are always in solidarity with the refugees," Szijjarto told The Associated Press in an interview. "What we're saying is that we cannot accept economic migrants because we cannot bear the burden of that."

Some asylum-seekers trapped at the border were confused about whether to keep waiting or to try to enter the EU through Croatia, where there are still mines left over from the Balkan wars. A de-mining expert was killed earlier this week when one of the mines exploded, but not in the region where the migrants are expected to travel.

Croatia's Mine Action Center says there are still 500 square kilometers (193 square miles) of suspicious areas throughout the country, but all have been clearly marked.

De-mining experts have been working recently in areas where the migrants will pass to remove remaining mines.

"I don't know what to do — stay here or try some other way to cross the border," said Ahmed Sami from Aleppo, Syria. "We walked and traveled for hundreds, thousands of kilometers only to be stopped meters from the European Union. My wife and children cannot stand on their feet any more. This is tragic."

Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic criticized Hungary's decision to seal its border with Serbia and said Croatia will not do the same.

"We are ready to accept these people, regardless of their religion and the color of their skin, and direct them to the destinations where they wish to go, Germany and Scandinavia," Milanovic told lawmakers in Parliament.

Elsewhere in Europe, migrants remained on the move.

Greek police said some 5,000 people trying to reach Western Europe crossed the country's northern border with Macedonia over the 24-hour period from Tuesday morning to Wednesday morning.

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Gera reported from Budapest, Hungary. Associated Press reporters Mike Corder in Roszke, Hungary; Pablo Gorondi and Alex Kuli in Budapest; Darko Bandic in Tovarnik, Croatia; Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia; and George Jahn in Vienna contributed to this report.

Migrants tear-gassed, hit with water cannons