The top US diplomat also said he saw "encouraging signs" on reaching a ceasefire in the war-torn Gaza Strip.

Israel seized the demilitarised zone on the strategic plateau on Sunday, just hours after Syrian rebels swept president Bashar al-Assad from power.

The priests have received numerous offers to be extracted from the war-torn country but will spend Christmas in Aleppo.

Syrian rebels appear to be using YouTube tutorials to operate a helicopter captured from the Assad regime.

Assad fled Syria as an Islamist-led rebel alliance swept into the capital Damascus, bringing to an end on Sunday to five decades of brutal rule by his clan.

Assad fled to Russia on Sunday after a lightning offensive spearheaded by Islamist rebels ousted him from power, opening a new chapter in Syria's history after five decades of rule by his clan.

Rebels and civilians flooded Bashar al-Assad's abandoned presidential palaces after his regime's collapse, looting valuables and discovering private photos.

As Syrian rebels celebrated the overthrow of Assad, experts warn the coalition's leading group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, seeks to impose a strict Islamist regime.

Jubilant scenes erupted in Damascus as Syrian rebels declared victory over President Bashar al-Assad's regime, ending a brutal 13-year civil war.

The Islamist-led rebels were at the gates of Syria's Homs, a war monitor said, after wresting other key cities from government control.

The fighting around Hama follows a rapid offensive by the rebels, who in just days captured large chunks of territory, including Syria's second city Aleppo, from President Bashar al-Assad's control.

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad is backed by Russia and Iran, both of which have confirmed they will help his army fight back after Aleppo, the country's second city, fell out of government control.

The violence has killed 242 people, according to a Syrian war monitor, most of them combatants on both sides but also including civilians, including 24 dead, most of them in Russian air strikes.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions launched a surprise attack on the Syrian army in the northern province of Aleppo on Wednesday.

Syria, the Huthi rebels in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza all belong to the so-called axis of resistance led by Iran, which on October 1 conducted a missile strike on Israel.

Pakistan said Wednesday that Iran carried out an air strike on its territory that killed two children, after Tehran launched attacks in Iraq and Syria against what it called "anti-Iranian terrorist groups".

International warrants were also issued for the arrests of Assad's brother Maher, the de-facto chief of a Syrian elite military unit, and two armed forces generals.

It is the second time in roughly two weeks that the United States has targeted a location in Syria it said was tied to Iran, which supports an array of groups that Washington blames for a spike in attacks on its forces in the Middle East.

Turkey's parliament on Tuesday extended the military's authorisation to launch cross-border operations in neighbouring Syria and Iraq by two more years.

US warplanes on Thursday shot down a Turkish drone that was deemed a threat to American forces in Syria, the Pentagon said, an incident likely to raise tensions between the NATO allies.

This attack stands out as one of the deadliest incidents in the conflict-ridden area this year.

The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared that Turkish forces have killed the alleged Islamic State (IS) group leader in Syria.

The objective was to bolster Iran's defenses against Israel in Syria and to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, claimed sources.

A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southeast Turkey and Syria early Monday. More than 6,200 deaths have been officially reported in both nations.

Extremist forces carried out rocket attacks on a U.S.-controlled base in Syria on Sunday, but in vain.

A man was deported to London and arrested on Wednesday after spending six years in jail in Turkey for being one of the alleged members of an Islamic State-affiliated terror cell nicknamed "the Beatles."

A former Kansas teacher could face up to 20 years in prison following her arrest, after being accused of leading an all-female battalion of the Islamic State (IS) group that plotted terror attacks on Americans, federal prosecutors announced as they unsealed the criminal case on Friday.

A Swedish-Chilean grandfather has looked back on his fight to rescue seven of his grandchildren out of Syria following their terrorist father’s shooting death.

Former "ISIS bride" Shamima Begum, who left the U.K. for Syria as a teenager, apologized for joining the "death cult" and pleaded with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to allow her return to her homeland, offering to help the Britons fight terrorism.

The US has allegedly retaliated after their base in Syria was attacked by multiple rocket attacks out of self-defense.