With the thud of heavy machine guns, the whipping sound of sniper rounds and the smell of cordite filling the midnight darkness, the rebels almost didn't notice her veiled figure turning the corner.

They dragged her behind the thick limestone wall of a centuries-old house in Jdeideh, one of the most recent frontlines in the war-ravaged Syrian city of Aleppo, and asked her for identification.

Syrian military planes crossed into Iraqi airspace on Thursday in order to carry out air strikes against the border town of al-Bukamal, which is held by rebel forces, Iraqi officials said.

"Syrian combat aircraft crossed into Iraqi airspace at about 8:00 am (0500 GMT) for about 15 minutes, and targeted al-Bukamal in Syrian territory," a lieutenant colonel in the Iraqi border guards said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Syrian civilians are facing "horrific" violence as the battle for the commercial capital Aleppo rages, Amnesty International said Thursday, lashing out primarily at regime troops for launching indiscriminate attacks.

"The use of imprecise weapons, such as unguided bombs, artillery shells and mortars by government forces has dramatically increased the danger for civilians," Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International Senior Crisis Response Adviser, who recently returned from Aleppo, said in a statement.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is waging "diplomatic terror" against Israel, which is as dangerous as the violent threat posed by Hamas, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Thursday.

It was his second personal attack on the Palestinian president in days and came after he called for world powers to force elections in the Palestinian Authority in a bid to replace him and revive the stagnant peace process.

Egyptian editor Islam Afifi, who is facing charges of spreading false news and was remanded in custody Thursday, will be freed following a presidential decree scrapping preventive detention in the case of publishing crimes.

"Al-Dustour chief editor Islam Afifi will be released according to the (presidential) decree," which scraps preventive detention in the case of publishing crimes, said Yasser Ali, spokesman of President Mohammed Morsi.

Iraq expects to receive the first group of F-16 warplanes next year, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's spokesman said on Thursday, after U.S. officials said the aircraft would not arrive until 2014.

"Iraq is waiting to receive the first group of the F-16 warplanes in March 2013," Ali Mussawi told Agence France Presse.

Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi said on Thursday that Italy will host international talks "in the coming days" on the future of Syria after President Bashar Assad leaves power.

Italy "has proposed informal talks in Rome in the next few days with a group of allies and partner countries to discuss international roles and responsibilities in Syria after Assad," Terzi wrote in La Repubblica daily.

Israel on Thursday warned U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and other world leaders not to fall into an Iranian propaganda "trap" when they attend a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran next week.

"This conference will doubtless be exploited by the Iranian regime for propaganda purposes and will try to create the impression of legitimacy for its policies," foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told Agence France Presse.

The Syrian army recaptured three Christian neighborhoods in the historic heart of Aleppo from rebels Thursday but fierce clashes continued in other parts of the main northern city, residents said.

Loyalists forces also battled rebels in Damascus, shelling districts and storming houses, after launching a ferocious assault to try to reinforce its hold on the capital, activists said.

China will give 30 million yuan ($4.7 million) in humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon, the official Xinhua news agency said on Thursday.

The aid will go to refugees in Jordan and Lebanon to "show Chinese people's friendly sentiments toward Syrian people,” Xinhua reported, citing the foreign ministry.