Thin mattresses, children's toys, a gas heater: Abu Ismail packed a pick-up truck with scant belongings before fleeing a northwest Syria town nearly emptied of residents by recent regime attacks.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday vowed Turkey would increase military support to Libya if necessary, and evaluate all options.

Turkey's parliament approved a security and military cooperation deal with Libya's U.N.-recognized unity government based in Tripoli on Saturday.

Forces loyal to Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar have seized a Turkish ship to search its cargo, hours after the Turkish parliament approved a security and military cooperation deal with Libya.

Thousands of protesters blocked roads and public buildings in southern Iraq Sunday, as the latest deadline for choosing a new prime minister loomed.

Near-simultaneous attacks believed to have been carried out by drones hit three government-run oil and gas installations in central Syria, state TV and the Oil Ministry said Saturday.
No one claimed responsibility for the attacks, which targeted the Homs oil refinery — one of only two in the country — as well as two natural gas facilities in different parts of Homs province.

Tens of thousands of civilians are fleeing bombardment in Syria's Idlib region, the UN said, as fighting flares in the jihadist bastion fuelling an already dire humanitarian situation.
The Idlib region, which is home to some three million people including many displaced by Syria's civil war, is controlled by the country's former Al-Qaeda affiliate, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The Damascus regime has repeatedly vowed to take back control of it.

Russia and China used their veto Friday to block a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have extended for a year cross-border humanitarian aid to four million Syrians.

Tens of thousands of civilians have fled from the southern Idlib region in northwestern Syria to the north of the province amid heavy bombardment this week, the U.N. humanitarian agency said Friday.

Iraq's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani called Friday for early elections to end the months of political paralysis that have gripped the protest-hit country.
