The death toll in coordinated Islamic State group attacks in Syria's Sweida neared 250 on Thursday, the Druze-majority province's heaviest loss of life of the seven-year civil war.

His face is everywhere, on every public square, market and street corner in Damascus, as well as on the roads and highways leading to the Syrian capital.

Buoyed by successive military advances over the past year and having completely secured Damascus — President Bashar Assad's seat of power — and the surrounding suburbs for the first time in years, the government is openly boasting about its victories.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri said Tuesday that he welcomes international efforts to ensure the return of Syrian refugees to their homes and awaits a roadmap being developed by the Russian ministry of defense on the matter.

In a statement issued by his office, Hariri said he hopes the plan, in coordination with the U.S. administration, the United Nations and other relevant parties, will be a serious effort to resolve the refugee crisis.

The Latest on escalating rhetoric between Washington and Tehran (all times local):

7:15 a.m.

The Israeli military says it activated its aerial defense system in response to incoming rockets from the fighting in neighboring Syria.

The military says two interceptors were launched Monday from the David's Sling system after the rockets were identified. No injuries or damage was reported and the military says the rockets landed in Syrian territory.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday in talks focusing on the Iranian presence in Syria.

Early in his meeting with the Russian delegation, also attended by Israeli defense officials, Netanyahu stressed the "extraordinarily important" link between the two countries, demonstrated by "the direct meetings between myself and President Putin and between our staffs."

Crossing into Syria from neighboring Lebanon, visitors are greeted by giant posters of President Bashar Assad.

The signs proclaim: "Welcome to victorious Syria."

Crossing into Syria from neighboring Lebanon, visitors are greeted by giant posters of President Bashar Assad.

The signs proclaim: "Welcome to victorious Syria."

Lebanon has for decades struggled with daily power cuts that leave residents sweating through their shirts summer after sticky summer.

The bankrupt national power company, unable to build new power plants, has been buying electricity from Turkish barges docked off-shore.

Unbowed by swirling criticism of his summit encounter with Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump swiftly invited the Russian leader to the White House this fall for a second get-together. Cleanup from the first has continued with no letup and Trump belatedly decided Putin's "incredible offer" of shared U.S.-Russia investigations was no good after all.

A White House meeting would be a dramatic extension of legitimacy to the Russian leader, who has long been isolated by the West for activities in Ukraine, Syria and beyond and is believed to have interfered in the 2016 presidential election that sent Trump to the presidency. No Russian leader has visited the White House in nearly a decade.