Denmark will free up another two million euros to help provide aid to Syrian refugees and displaced people as a civil war rages in their homeland, Danish public television DR reported Saturday.

Out of the 15 million kroner (two million euros), 13 million will go to the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) and two million to the Danish crisis agency, which sends personnel and equipment to Syrian refugees in Jordan.

Security forces in Algeria have killed 10 militants presumed to be members of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb in separate operations, press reports on Saturday cited the Defense Ministry as saying.

They said nine AQIM members including a chief named as Boubeker Zemmouri, 29, were killed by soldiers in a special operation at Jebel Djerrah in the Beni Amrane area of Boumerdes province, 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Algiers.

The United States has significantly scaled down a planned joint military exercise with Israel most likely because of disagreements on how to deal with Iran's nuclear ambitions, Time magazine has reported on its website

Citing "well-placed sources in both countries", the magazine said Washington was slashing by more than two-thirds the number of U.S. troops going to Israel, and reducing the number and potency of missile interception systems that will be used in the exercise dubbed Austere Challenge 12, which is scheduled for October.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi has told the new U.N. special envoy for Syria that Beijing is increasingly concerned about the worsening situation in the conflict-ridden Middle Eastern country.

Yang made the comments late Friday during a telephone conversation with Lakhdar Brahimi, according to a statement posted on the ministry's website.

Syrian rebels launched deadly attacks on the military Saturday in a campaign increasingly targeting its air power, as President Bashar Assad's traditional ally Russia said it was "naive" to expect him not to fight back.

Rebel fighters captured the main air defense building in Albu Kamal on the Iraqi border, the Syrian Observatory for Human Right said, adding that "preliminary reports" suggested they had seized ground-to-air missiles that could boost their ability to down government aircraft.

Russia said Saturday it would be "naive" for outside powers to expect Syrian President Bashar Assad to withdraw his troops first from cities and then wait for the opposition to follow suit.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said such a demand on the regime amounted to a call for "capitulation" that Western and Arab nations had no right to make.

The next summit of the Non-Aligned Movement will be held in Caracas in 2015, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro announced Friday, shortly after the closure of this year's event in Iran.

"It has been decided that the 17th summit (will be held) in Caracas in 2015," Maduro said in an interview with VTV state television in Tehran.

The United States urged Syria on Friday to confirm it is detaining an American freelance journalist who has been missing in the country for more than two weeks.

Austin Tice, 31, is believed to be held by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad, according to The Washington Post and McClatchy Newspapers, who called this week for his release.

Canada expanded sanctions against Syria Friday, praised Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi for slamming Syria's regime as "oppressive" and warned Russia over its support for Syria.

Canada added 50 names to a list of people and organizations linked to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime to be targeted by sanctions. It is Canada's 10th tightening of sanctions against Syria in the past year.

More than 100 Turkish journalists on Friday staged a protest to demand the release of two Turkish reporters reportedly being held by the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Gathering in front of the Syrian embassy in Ankara, protestors unfurled banners reading "Syria, give our colleagues back," "Don't kill journalists," and "Journalist is not the target."