At least 88 civilians have been killed in 24 hours of Turkish air strikes on an Islamic State group bastion in northern Syria, a monitoring group said Friday.

A barrage of raids hit Al-Bab on Thursday, killing 72 civilians including 21 children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. 

Egypt said Friday it agreed to delay a vote on a UN Security Council resolution against Israeli settlements during a phone call between President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and US President-elect Donald Trump.

Egypt on Thursday requested that the vote be postponed a day after it submitted the draft text to the council, which prompted Israel to reach out to Trump to block a resolution. 

Israeli police said Thursday they arrested an Arab lawmaker whose immunity has been lifted after he was suspected of secretly giving cellphones to two Palestinian high security prisoners.

Written off by the West, Syria's President Bashar Assad has defied all expectations of his downfall, thanks to his iron will but also his crucial alliances with Russia and Iran.

The return of Aleppo to full government control Thursday is a "great loss" to the five-year revolt against Syria's President Bashar Assad, a rebel official said.

The army said on Thursday that Aleppo had been fully recaptured after the last convoy of rebel fighters and civilians left the insurgents' former stronghold in the east of the city.

The seven-year-old Syrian girl whose Twitter account provided a tragic window for the world into the destruction of her hometown Aleppo on Thursday described taking up blogging to give a voice to the city's children.

The U.N. Security Council on Thursday postponed a vote on a draft resolution demanding that Israel halt its settlement activities as President-elect Donald Trump weighed in and said the United States should veto the measure.

Egypt requested the delay a day after it submitted the draft text to the council, a move that triggered immediate calls from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a U.S. veto to block the resolution.

President-elect Donald Trump called on Thursday for the United States to veto an Egyptian-drafted U.N. resolution demanding that Israel immediately halt its settlement activities in the Palestinian territories and east Jerusalem.

"The resolution being considered at the United Nations Security Council regarding Israel should be vetoed," the Republican said in a statement issued ahead of the vote taking place later in the day.

The army said Thursday it has retaken full control of Syria's devastated second city Aleppo, scoring its biggest victory against opposition forces since the civil war erupted in 2011.

The announcement came after a landmark evacuation deal that put an end to a ferocious month-long offensive waged on east Aleppo by government forces and allied militia. 

Two Iraqi militias linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) are recruiting child soldiers, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.