Israeli war planes attack with missiles unspecified targets near Damascus, the Syrian capital, and injured three Syrian soldiers, Syrian state media reports quoting a military source.

With Russia's backing, the UN Security Council yesterday unanimously demanded a 30-day ceasefire in Syria to allow for humanitarian aid deliveries and medical evacuations.

New air strikes on the Syrian rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta take the civilian death toll from seven days of devastating bombardment to more than 500 after the United Nations again delayed a vote on a ceasefire.

US-led coalition air strikes on a jail run by the Islamic State group in eastern Syria killed at least 57 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.

Islamic State group fighters seize around 2,000 civilians to use as "human shields" Friday as they fled their stronghold of Manbij in northern Syria, according to US-backed forces and a monitor.

The first major truce in Syria's five-year civil war comes into effect, but Syrian TV says shells hit residential areas of the capital, Damascus.

Russia says it "categorically rejects" accusations of war crimes over the bombing of hospitals in Syria.

Jihadists from the Islamic State group abduct more than 400 Syrian civilians after capturing new ground in a major assault on the city of Deir Ezzor.

Aid including one month's worth of food and medicine can reach for 40,000 people trapped in Madaya, a besieged Syrian village as early as Sunday morning, the World Food Programme says.

The Syrian government agrees to allow aid into the besieged rebel-held village of Madaya, the UN says, amid reports of residents starving to death.

Russian President Vladimir Putin defends Russia's military operations in Syria, saying the aim is to "stabilise the legitimate authority" of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Russia's air force hit 60 Islamic State targets in Syria over the past 24 hours and killed around 300 militants, the Defense Ministry says.

Russia is to hold more talks with the US on air safety during the two countries’ Syrian bombing campaigns, says the Pentagon.

Members of the US-led coalition against Islamic State call on Russia to cease air strikes they say are hitting the Syrian opposition and civilians.

The US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group is "intensifying" its campaign in northern Syria, President Barack Obama says.

At least 16 people, including 13 children, are killed when Syrian air force jets bombed a town in Deraa province on Tuesday, activists say.

Air strikes by the US-led coalition targeting Islamic State militants kills more than 50 civilians in northern Syria.