APRNEWS - Syrian pro-government media say troops have captured a village and a strategic hill from insurgents in the country's northwest.

The government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media says troops captured the village of al-Bani and the nearby Othman hill in the northern countryside of Hama province.

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.

REUTERS - Government helicopters dropped barrel bombs on the city of Deraa on Monday for the first time in nearly a year, a rebel and a war monitor said, extending an assault in southwest Syria.