Syria

Suspected Islamic State chief Qurayshi killed in Syria, Turkey says

Abu Hussein al-Qurayshi is believed to have taken over the group after his predecessor died in a raid in February.

Mr Erdogan told broadcaster TRT Turk the IS leader was "neutralised" in a Turkish MIT intelligence agency operation on Saturday.

IS has so far made no comment on the reported operation.

The BBC has been unable to independently verify President Erdogan's claim.

The MIT intelligence agency had been following Qurayshi for a "long time", Mr Erdogan said.

The Syrian who dug his fiancee out of the rubble

"How are you leaving me behind? You were the only reason that I stayed alive... How can I breathe now?"

Her daughter is inside. Next to her are the bodies of five other members of their family.

It's another cold bright afternoon at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing between southern Turkey and opposition-held north-western Syria.

Syrian refugee families who have lost loved ones in the earthquake that struck southern Turkey last week are gathered there to help repatriate their bodies.

Around us the heavy smell of death hangs in the air.

Thousands offer to adopt baby pulled from the rubble

When she was rescued, baby Aya - meaning miracle in Arabic - was still connected to her mother by her umbilical cord.

Her mother, father and all four of her siblings died after the quake hit the town of Jindayris.

Aya is now in hospital.

"She arrived on Monday in such a bad state, she had bumps, bruises, she was cold and barely breathing," said Hani Marouf, the paediatrician looking after her.

She is now in stable condition.

Turkey-Syria earthquake: Combined death toll tops 11,500

The World Health Organisation has suggested the final toll could rise as high as 20,000, and thousands are complaining about the lack of resources and slow official response.

Across a swathe of southern Turkey, people sought temporary shelter and food in freezing winter weather, and waited in anguish by piles of rubble where family and friends might still lie buried.

Turkish president declares emergency as Turkey-Syria quake death toll passes 7000

A day after the quakes hit, rescuers working in harsh conditions struggled to dig people out of the rubble of collapsed buildings.

As the scale of the disaster became ever more apparent, the death toll looked likely to rise considerably. One United Nations official said it was feared thousands of children may have been killed.

And residents in several damaged Turkish cities voiced anger and despair at what they said was a slow and inadequate response from the authorities to the deadliest earthquake to hit Türkiye since 1999.

Babies die from cold in storm-hit Idlib camps

A UN official told AFP news agency that the seven-day-old and two-month-old girls had died in Idlib province.

Some 2.8 million people have sought shelter in the opposition stronghold after fleeing their homes during the country's decade-long civil war.

Many live in worn-out tents without warm clothes and fuel for heating.

The UN has warned that the situation is getting worse due to a severe economic downturn in Syria that has seen food prices double in a year, as well as a shortage of funding to provide winter aid and increased needs.

Syria executes 24 people over deadly forest fires

Those executed on Wednesday were charged with committing "terrorist acts that led to death and damage to state infrastructure, public and private property", the ministry said.

It said 11 others were sentenced to life in prison on the same charges from dozens arrested at the end of last year who confessed to igniting the fires that began in September 2020 and lasted until mid-October of the same year.

Although executions are common in the tightly run country with a powerful security apparatus, it is rare to publicise such a large number of executions on a single day.

Syria 'finds body of archaeologist Khaled al-Asaad beheaded by IS'

Militants publicly beheaded Khaled al-Asaad, 82, after he refused to disclose the location of valuable artefacts.

State media reported that his body was thought to be among three discovered in Kahloul, east of Palmyra.

DNA tests will be carried out to confirm their identities.

The brutal murder was one of a series of atrocities committed by IS militants during the two periods they were in control of the Unesco World Heritage site.

Syria's President Assad 'to visit North Korea'

It would be the first time North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has hosted a head of state since assuming power in 2011.

He has undertaken a flurry of diplomatic activity recently, meeting China's president in May, and is expected to attend a summit with Donald Trump this month.

Syria, an ally of the North, has made no comment on the reported plan.

The two countries have been accused of co-operating on chemical weapons. But both nations deny the accusations.

No date for the visit was mentioned by the North Korea's KCNA news agency.

US still 'locked and loaded' for new chemical attacks

The warning came after the US, UK and France struck three Syrian sites in response to a suspected deadly chemical attack in the town of Douma a week ago.

Syria denies any chemical use and says that attack was fabricated by rebels.

A UN Security Council vote brought by Syria's ally, Russia, and condemning the US-led strikes was rejected.

The wave of strikes represents the most significant attack against President Bashar al-Assad's government by Western powers in seven years of Syria's civil war.