The United States, Britain and France vowed on the fifth anniversary of a chemical weapons attack that they blame on the Syrian government to take action as they have in the past against any further attacks by President Bashar Assad's regime.

A joint statement issued late Tuesday called the Aug. 21, 2012 sarin nerve gas attack that killed hundreds of people in the Ghouta suburb of Damascus "horrific." The use of sarin led to a U.S.-Russian agreement to eliminate Assad's chemical weapons, which averted U.S. military strikes against Syria.

Not so long ago, people in Bosnia were sarcastically joking that their war-scarred country is in such a bad shape that not even the migrants fleeing violence and poverty in the Mideast and Africa were willing to pass through it.

That's not the case anymore.

The leader of Syria's al-Qaida affiliate has vowed to fight on in Idlib province, the country's last major rebel stronghold, in the face of a possible government offensive.

Abu Mohammed al-Golani of the militant Levant Liberation Committee says state-sponsored surrenders of rebel groups, similar to those that recently occurred in southern Syria, won't happen in Idlib.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that Russia “rejects any foreign intervention in Lebanon,” stating during a joint press conference with caretaker Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil that they have discussed a Russian plan to repatriate Syrian refugees in Lebanon back to their homeland.

“Russia and Lebanon stand on the same page regarding the repatriation of refugees,” Lavrov said, noting that he and Bassil have discussed the file during their meeting in Moscow.

Some 2 million Muslim pilgrims gathered on Monday in the valley of Mount Arafat in Saudi Arabia for a day of prayer that marks the pinnacle of the annual hajj.

Pilgrims stood shoulder to shoulder for an emotional day of repentance and supplication at the site Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad delivered his final sermon, calling for equality and for Muslims to unite. According to the hadiths, traditional collections of the prophet's sayings and anecdotes about his life, Muhammad also reminded his followers of women's rights and that every Muslim life and property is sacred.

Shots were fired at a security booth outside the U.S. Embassy in Turkey's capital early Monday, but U.S. officials said no one was hurt.

Private Ihlas news agency said four to five rounds were fired from a moving white car and targeted the booth outside Gate 6 at the embassy in Ankara. Police were searching for the car.

The Taliban ambushed a convoy of buses Monday on a road in northern Afghanistan and took more than 100 people hostage, including women and children, in the latest brazen assault by insurgents, provincial officials said.

The ambush came despite Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's announcement of a conditional cease-fire with the Taliban during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha this week.

An Emirati minister warned Sunday of “consequences” after Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah met in Lebanon with a delegation from Yemen's Huthi rebels.

“How can the dissociation policy – which Lebanon needs for its political and economic balance and Arab and international position – correspond to Hassan Nasrallah's hosting of a delegation from the Huthi insurgents? This is a question which we call on Lebanon to deal with,” UAE State Minister for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said in a tweet.

The passengers' chatter on the Beirut-bound flight was far from reassuring. Taxi drivers were striking. Traffic was going to be bad. Add the heat and suffocating humidity of a typical summer day and you're hit with a powerful urge to get out of town.

The mountains? Absolutely.

Lebanon has rejected the position of the head of the U.N. refugee agency, who said it was too early to talk about a mass return of Syrian refugees because the war-torn country is still too dangerous.

The Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that conditions in Syria now are stable in many cities and provinces.