A Lebanese man, who hails from the southern coastal city of Sidon, has reportedly carried out a suicide attack in Iraq, his family confirmed on Sunday.

The family of Rashed Bassam Abou Zeid mourned him, revealing that he is linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

U.S. commandos killed a senior Islamic State group leader in a nighttime raid into Syria, American officials said Saturday, as IS jihadists seized the northern part of Syria's ancient desert city of Palmyra.

Across the border, IS battled Iraqi army reinforcements in the strategic western city of Ramadi, while Turkey said its armed forces had shot down a Syrian helicopter that had violated its airspace.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah claimed on Saturday a major achievement in the battle with jihadists in the Syrian border region of Qalamoun but stopped short of announcing full victory as expected and warned the state that the people would assume their responsibilities if it failed to act.

In a televised address, Nasrallah said Hizbullah has made “a major military progress” in the fighting between Syrian troops backed by his party's members and jihadists from al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State group.

At least 48 civilians, including nine children, were killed on Saturday in regime air raids on Syria's northwest province of Idlib, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. 

"Air strikes by regime aircraft on Idlib city and the towns of Saraqeb and Kafr Awid," all controlled by rebel forces, killed 48 civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Jihadists from the Islamic State group seized control Saturday of the northern part of Syria's ancient desert city of Palmyra after fierce clashes with government forces, a monitoring group said.

"IS advanced and took control of most of northern Palmyra, and there are fierce clashes happening now," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Turkish armed forces on Saturday shot down a Syrian helicopter that violated Turkey's airspace in the south of the country, the Turkish defense minister said.

"A Syrian helicopter was downed that violated the border for a period of five minutes within a seven mile (11 kilometer) limit," Defence Minister Ismet Yilmaz was quoted as saying by the Dogan news agency.

U.S. special forces killed a senior Islamic State group leader and captured his wife in a daring raid in eastern Syria, the White House announced on Saturday. 

The raid was carried out at the direction of U.S. President Barack Obama, his spokeswoman on national security matters, Bernadette Meehan said in a statement.

Turkish police have detained eight serving members of the army in the latest wave of arrests in a hugely controversial case over the interception last year of an alleged consignment of arms bound for Syria, reports said Saturday.

Arrest warrants were issued for 10 soldiers, of whom eight had been detained by Friday night, the official Anatolia news agency reported.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Friday that the war in Syria would not likely end before he leaves office in early 2017 and reaffirmed his belief that there is no "military solution" to the conflict.

"The situation in Syria is heartbreaking but it's extremely complex" Obama said in an interview with the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television network.

Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi announced that he is preparing to appeal the verdict against former Minister Michel Samaha, noting that the main problem with the sentence is linked to the structure of the Military Tribunal, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Saturday.

He told the daily: “I am demanding an amendment to the regulations of the Tribunal, not its elimination.”