Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday it was time to destroy “terrorist” groups that posed a threat to Syria’s survival, namely the Islamic State group jihadists and Kurdish fighters.

Israel launched strikes against ports and energy infrastructure in Houthi-held parts of Yemen early yesterday and threatened more attacks against the Iran-aligned militant group, which has launched hundreds of missiles at Israel over the past year.

The United States, joined by Arab mediators, yesterday sought to conclude an agreement between Israel and Hamas to halt the 14-month-old offensive in the Gaza Strip where medics said Israeli strikes killed at least 20 Palestinians overnight.

The first flight since the ouster of Syria's president Bashar al-Assad took off on Wednesday from Damascus airport to Aleppo in the country's north, AFP journalists saw

Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 14 Palestinians yesterday, at least 10 of them in one house in Gaza City, medics said as tanks pushed deeper towards the western area of Rafah in the south.

A team of Turkish rescuers began an in-depth search of Syria’s infamous Saydnaya prison yesterday, a spokesman for Turkey’s AFAD disaster management agency told AFP.

Turkey yesterday denounced an Israeli plan to double the population living in the occupied and annexed Golan Heights as a bid to “expand its borders”.

Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 45,028 Palestinians and wounded 106,962 since October 7, 2023, the Palestinian enclave’s health ministry said yesterday.

At least 18 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on Saturday, medics said, while the Israeli military said it targeted gunmen operating from shelters and aid storages.

Top diplomats from the United States, Turkey, the European Union and Arab nations met in Jordan yesterday for talks on Syria as regional and global powers scramble for influence over whatever government replaces ousted President Bashar al-Assad.

Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli drone strike in the south killed one person yesterday, the latest deadly raid despite a more than two-week ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Iran will not impede the UN nuclear watchdog’s access and inspection of its sites, the head of the country’s Atomic Energy Organization said yesterday.

Tens of thousands of Syrians, mostly Shia Muslims, have fled to Lebanon since Sunni Muslim groups toppled Bashar al-Assad, fearing persecution despite assurances from the new rulers in Damascus that they will be safe, a Lebanese official said.

An Israeli strike on a post office sheltering Gaza residents killed at least 33 Palestinians and wounded 50, medics said, and the Israeli military said yesterday it had been targeting a senior Islamic Jihad member.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz yesterday ordered the military to “prepare to remain” throughout the winter in the UN-patrolled buffer zone between Israeli and Syrian forces on the strategic Golan Heights.

G7 leaders will meet virtually Friday to discuss the momentous changes underway in Syria, where the interim government has vowed to institute the "rule of law" after years of abuses under ousted president Bashar al-Assad

Israel’s Air Force yesterday continued to pound Syria, striking ports and missile warehouses in Latakia and Tartous provinces, as Israeli ground troops moved deeper into the Syrian Golan Heights, effectively expanding their occupation.

Israel’s strikes on Syria following the fall of longtime president Basher Al-Assad violate international law, United Nations experts said yesterday, branding Israel’s attempts to “preemptively disarm” its foes as “lawless”.

An Israeli military incursion into Syria has reached about 25 km (16 miles) southwest of Damascus, Syrian security sources and media reports said yesterday, after Israel seized a buffer zone in southern Syria and launched air strikes on Syrian army and air bases overnight.

Damascus stirred back to life on Monday at the start of a hopeful but uncertain era after rebels seized the capital and President Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia, following 13 years of civil war and more than 50 years of his family’s brutal rule.