AFP - Rights groups and specialists are sounding the alarm over a new Syrian law on urban development, saying millions of displaced risk never returning home after losing claim to land left behind.

AFP - Syrian state media on Tuesday retracted reports of an overnight missile attack on the central province of Homs, saying a "false alarm" had activated its air defences.

AFP - The French government plans to strip Syrian President Bashar as-Assad of his Legion d'Honneur, France's most prestigious award, days after participating in airstrikes against suspected chemical weapons sites in Syria.

AFP - Despite his eagerness to remove American troops from Syria, US President Donald Trump has given up on doing so immediately for reasons including the war against jihadists and regional politics.

- Mission accomplished? -

REUTERS - The Syrian rebel group Jaish al-Islam denied reports on Friday it would leave Douma near Damascus, after Russia said it had reached an agreement by which insurgents would leave the town.

AFP - Thousands of Syrian rebels and civilians arrived in opposition territory on Wednesday after having evacuated their Eastern Ghouta enclave near Damascus, an AFP correspondent said.

Buses carrying opposition fighters, their relatives, and other civilians began arriving at a transit point in northwestern Syria around dawn, after travelling all night from Ghouta.

AFP - A new group of Syrian rebels and civilians prepared to leave Eastern Ghouta on Monday after the largest exodus yet from the opposition enclave, as talks stalled over the final pocket of resistance.

AFP - Turkish police on Monday detained four Iraqis suspected of planning an attack on the US embassy in Ankara, media reported.

The group were held during anti-terror raids in the Black Sea province of Samsun, Hurriyet daily said, after the US mission in the capital announced it would close Monday because of a "security threat".

AFP - The UN Human Rights Council on Monday ordered an immediate probe into the situation in Syria's besieged rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta, as aid arrived there for the first time in weeks.

The council approved a resolution calling on war crimes investigators to "urgently conduct a comprehensive and independent inquiry into recent events in Eastern Ghouta."

REUTERS - Iran said pro-Damascus forces would press ahead with attacks on an insurgent enclave near the Syrian capital, as ground fighting raged on there following a U.N. resolution demanding a 30-day truce across the country.