syria

Nearly 18,000 people have died in government prisons in Syria since the beginning of the uprising in 2011, according to Amnesty International.

A Russian Mi-8 helicopter has been shot down by ground fire in Syria following delivery of humanitarian supplies to Aleppo, the Defense Ministry said. Three crew and two officers from Russia's Reconciliation Center died, according to a Kremlin statement.

A crowd has been protesting near the Incirlik military base in Adana, Turkey. The facility houses US and NATO forces. The demonstrators are calling for the closure of the base, where arrests and searches were made in connection with the failed coup.

Police have arrested alleged attacker indentified as a 21-year-old Syrian refugee man

THE son of slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has threatened revenge against the United States for assassinating his father, according to an audio message posted online.

Most of the victims were inside a multi-storey shopping mall

Prosecutors in Paris charged Rifaat al-Assad, the uncle of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with corruption earlier this month, an anti-corruption group said Tuesday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the monitoring group, said Tabqa would be a difficult military target because Islamic State has large stocks of weapons there.

THE Russian defence minister has proposed that Russia and the US-led coalition launch joint action against the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front in Syria.

His funeral was to be held in Hezbollah's stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut at 5:30 pm (1430 GMT), the movement announced.

Airstrikes pummeled the al Quds Hospital in a rebel-held part of Aleppo last week. There are just six doctors left there.

Air strikes destroyed a hospital and killed dozens of people in rebel-held areas of Syria's Aleppo including children and doctors, while the United Nations called on Moscow and Washington to salvage a "barely alive" ceasefire.

Security Council says status of the Golan will not change after Netanyahu vows it will remain part of Israeli territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow Thursday over fears the Kremlin's involvement in Syria and weapons deliveries to Iran could bolster the Jewish state's fiercest opponents.

A meeting of oil-rich countries in Qatar that had been expected to boost crude prices by freezing production fell apart Sunday as Iran stayed home and vowed to increase its output despite threats by Saudi Arabia.