Syrian forces have dealt stinging blows to Turkish-backed Takfiri militants in the southern environs of the northwestern province of Idlib as tensions in the conflict between Ankara and Damascus have soared to a dramatic level after dozens of Turkish troops were killed in air raids in the region.

Israeli military helicopters attacked Syrian army positions in the Arab country’s Southwestern province of Quneitra near the occupied Golan Heights as tensions soar between the Tel Aviv regime and the Damascus government over an earlier airstrike.

Turkish troops were acting inside “combat units” with militants in Idlib province when they were targeted by a Syrian government airstrike on Thursday, the Russia’s Defense Ministry said.

More than 1,400 Israelis have been ordered to self-quarantine after returning from countries hit by Coronavirus, a health ministry official disclosed, raising the doubt that thousands of potential patients may not have isolated themselves.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has defended his recent decision to terminate a security pact between Filipino forces and the US military, saying his country can fight insurgents and survive as a nation without American military help.

Israel gives the green light for construction of close to 1,800 new settler units in the illegal settlements it has built across the occupied West Bank, in a move apparently aimed at securing votes for scandal-hit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of upcoming elections.

Syrian government forces, backed by allied fighters from popular defense groups, have retaken control of a number of villages in the southern countryside of the northwestern province of Idlib following clashes with foreign-backed Takfiri militants.

The United Nations human rights chief has urged Saudi Arabia to release women activists and also uphold freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, as the Arab kingdom prepares to hold the 2020 G20 Riyadh Summit in November.