President Bashar al-Assad vowed on Tuesday to fight on in what he called Syria's war against terrorism, showing no sign of compromise in his first major address since peace talks broke down in April.
More than a billion Muslims observed the start of Ramadan on Monday but in the besieged cities of Syria and Iraq residents struggled to mark the holy month.
Islamic State fighters have been fleeing the Syrian city of Manbij with their families as US-backed groups advance to within 6 km (4 miles) in an attack that has killed more than 150 jihadists, a spokesman for the US-backed forces said.
Nearly 50 air strikes hit rebel-held areas in and around the Syrian city of Aleppo yesterday in some of the heaviest recent raids
US fighter jets on Friday launched strikes against Islamic State from an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea, the US Navy said, marking the first time a US aircraft carrier targeted areas in the Middle East from the Mediterranean since the Iraq War began in 2003.
The United Nations will ask the Syrian government on Sunday to approve air drops and air lifts of humanitarian aid to besieged areas, UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien told the Security Council, according to diplomats in the closed door meeting on Friday.
Japan said on Monday that it believed a new photo posted online of a Japanese journalist missing in Syria - showing him for the first time since a video released earlier this year - is authentic.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the United States' support of Kurdish fighters in Syria after AFP pictures revealed US commandos wearing the insignia of a militia branded a terror group by Ankara.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad denied media reports that Russia had drawn up a new constitution for his country and presented it to his government as part of international efforts to end the long conflict.
Islamic State fighters captured territory from Syrian rebels near the Turkish border on Friday and inched closer to a town on a supply route for foreign-backed insurgents fighting the jihadists, a monitoring group said.
A US-led coalition has carried out at least 150 air strikes on the Islamic State group to back an offensive near the jihadists' northern Syria stronghold, a monitor said Friday.
More than 148 people were killed yesterday in bombings claimed by the Islamic State group in northwestern Syria...
