APRNEWS - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday Israel will defend itself against Iran, after a friendly fire incident in Syria this week linked to Israeli strikes on Iranian targets there.

Syria accidentally downed a Russian plane late Monday, killing all 15 people on board, the same evening Israel launched strikes in the war-torn country.

REUTERS - Apple Inc has acquired a startup focused on making lenses for augmented reality glasses, the company confirmed on Wednesday, a signal Apple has ambitions to make a wearable device that would superimpose digital information on the real world.

REUTERS - The United Nations called on Russia, Iran and Turkey on Thursday to forestall a battle in Syria’s Idlib province which would affect millions of civilians and could see both sides using chlorine as a chemical weapon.

REUTERS - Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that the Russian military was in talks with leaders of armed groups in Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province to reach a peace settlement, Russian news agency RIA reported.

Shoigu said the aim of the Idlib talks was to reach peaceful resolution similar to the settlements in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta and Deraa, RIA said.

APRNEWS - Several years after fleeing Syria, a group of wide-eyed refugees stare through the tinted windows of their bus to see the homecoming committee the government has organised for them.

REUTERS - The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria plans talks with Iran, Russia and Turkey in September to start finalizing the composition of the body intended to draft a new Syrian constitution, a statement said on Tuesday.

APRNEWS - A US-backed Kurdish-led alliance is holding talks in Damascus for the first time on the future of the swathe of northern Syria under its control, an alliance official said on Friday.

APRNEWS - Syrian relief workers and the United Nations began distributing humanitarian assistance provided by France to the battered region of Eastern Ghouta on Thursday, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent announced.

APRNEWS - Russia has offered to keep Iranian forces in Syria away from the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights but Israel wants Tehran to completely withdraw, an Israeli official said Tuesday.

REUTERS - The Syrian army has captured some areas held by Islamic State fighters in a region of the southwest near the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, state media said on Tuesday.

Engineering units were sweeping the areas taken in the Yarmouk basin region for mines and booby traps, it reported, citing a military source.