The United States yesterday demanded a war crimes investigation into the ferocious bombing campaign of Aleppo, accusing Syria and its Russian ally of “terrorising” civilians in the devastated city.

The United Nations' envoy for Yemen said on Friday after meeting with Houthi forces in Oman that he hoped to announce a ceasefire in the conflict in the next few days.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Moscow is ready to support a UN plan for jihadist fighters to leave war-ravaged Aleppo, but slapped strict conditions on any rebels remaining behind.

Turkish police have captured a Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant whom they suspect carried out a "motorbike bomb" attack on Thursday that wounded 10 people near an Istanbul police station, the state-run Anadolu Agency said on Friday.

Nine Turkey-backed Syrian rebels were killed and 32 were wounded on Thursday fighting in an operation to push Islamic State militants away from the border area in Syria, Turkey's military said on Friday, indicating a fresh surge in clashes.

The UN’s Syria envoy yesterday warned east Aleppo faces total destruction, as government forces made their biggest gains in years against rebels inside the opposition-held part of the battleground city.

Arab Fashion Week opens today with hopes of establishing Dubai as a top destination for the “ready couture” genre and as a major fashion capital.

Israeli tanks shelled the Gaza Strip after a rocket from the Palestinian enclave hit an open field yesterday, the second such exchange of fire in two days, officials said.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas left a West Bank hospital yesterday after undergoing heart function tests which showed normal results, a doctor said.

Israeli tanks shelled the Gaza Strip after a rocket from the Palestinian enclave hit an open field on Thursday, the second such exchange of fire in two days, officials said.

At least 10 people were wounded Thursday when a bomb concealed in a motorbike exploded near a police station in Istanbul, in the latest attack to strike Turkey's increasingly tense largest city over the last year.

A celebratory band played on Thursday as a cruise liner docked in the port of Tunis for the first time since a March 2015 jihadist attack killed 21 tourists in the capital.