Intense government air strikes and artillery fire killed at least 27 people yesterday in rebel-held parts of Syria’s Aleppo, where hospitals have been destroyed and schools forced to close.

A Saudi soldier was killed on Saturday by a missile fired by Yemeni rebels across the border into the kingdom's southern Asir province, the interior ministry said.

At least 27 civilians were killed in regime air strikes, barrel bomb attacks and artillery fire on the rebel-held side of Syria's Aleppo city on Saturday, a monitor said.

Police on Saturday detained two Swedish TV journalists in the sensitive Kurdish-majority province of Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey after they filmed near a military zone, a local news agency reported.

All hospitals in rebel-held eastern Aleppo are out of service after days of heavy air strikes on the besieged area of the Syrian city, its health directorate said late on Friday but a war monitor said some were still working.

A Saudi-led military coalition will start a 48-hour ceasefire in Yemen's war at noon (0900 GMT) on Saturday in the latest effort to end a conflict that has displaced millions and caused a worsening humanitarian disaster.

US-backed Iraqi troops expanded their foothold on the eastern side of Islamic State’s (IS) stronghold of Mosul yesterday, as the group pledged to mount more suicide attacks on their offensive to take the city.

Omani leader Sultan Qaboos made his first public appearance in nearly a year yesterday, attending annual National Day celebrations.

Air strikes and ferocious artillery bombardment pounded rebel-held east Aleppo yesterday as an escalating military offensive underscored the Syrian regime’s determination to take full control of the divided city.

The global watchdog tasked with destroying chemical weapons is probing more than 20 reports of the alleged use of toxic arms in Syria since August, its chief told AFP Friday.

Iran denied on Friday that it had in any way breached its nuclear deal with world powers, insisting it was meeting its commitment to cap its stocks of controlled materials.

Syrian aircraft and artillery pounded rebel-held areas of Aleppo early Friday as Damascus and its ally Moscow intensified a renewed offensive against the rebels.