A US-backed force battling the Islamic State group in eastern Syria said six of its fighters were wounded on Saturday in air strikes by regime and Russian warplanes. 

After breaking an Islamic State group blockade, Syria's army is seeking to encircle the remaining jihadist-held parts of Deir Ezzor city, a military source said Wednesday.

In a humid room in the besieged Syrian town of Douma, Abu Nabil inspects the pearly white mushrooms sprouting from white sacks hanging from a ceiling.

A region besieged by the regime forces east of Syria's capital on Sunday received U.N. aid for the first time in five years, a U.N. source said.

Russia has deployed military police to monitor two safe zones being established in Syria, the defense ministry in Moscow said Monday.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Monday missiles it fired into Syria had successfully hit Islamic State group targets in retaliation for Tehran attacks claimed by the jihadists earlier this month.

More than 1,200 people including rebels left two opposition-held districts of Damascus on Friday under an agreement that will bring Syria's government closer to exerting full control over the capital.

Mexico's ruthless drug cartels left the country with the world's highest murder rate last year, second only to Syria, a report released on Tuesday by the London-based IISS said.

A new round of United Nations-backed peace talks for war-ravaged Syria is set to begin in Geneva next week, the office of the U.N. mediator said Monday.

After six years of conflict in Syria, government backers Russia and Iran and rebel supporter Turkey have signed a deal to create four "de-escalation zones" in the country.