About 70 U.S.-trained Syrian rebels have graduated from America's much-criticized "train-and-equip" program and are fighting in Syria, military officials confirmed Monday. 

AFP reported Sunday that the rebels had crossed from Turkey into northern Syria, where they were expected to fight Islamic State jihadists.

The Islamic State jihadist group executed nine men and a boy it accused of being gay in central and northern Syria on Monday, a monitoring group said. 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the jihadists shot dead seven men in Rastan, a town in Homs province of central Syria, "after accusing them of being homosexual."

Russia has deployed 28 combat planes in Syria, U.S. officials said Monday, confirming the latest move in Moscow's increasing military presence in the war-torn nation.

"There are 28 fighter and bomber aircraft" at an airfield in the western Syrian province of Latakia, one of the officials told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The White House announced Monday that the United States is providing more than $75.5 million in additional “life-saving assistance” for Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

It is part of a $419 million package of funding to support the operations of the United Nations and other international and non-governmental organizations in several countries, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the International Organization for Migration (IOM),.

Russia's foreign ministry on Monday called for "concrete action" after a shell landed on its embassy compound in the Syrian capital, blaming forces battling Syrian President Bashar Assad.

"A shell fell on the territory of the Russian embassy in Damascus on September 20 around 9:00am, going deep into the ground without causing damage," the ministry said in a statement.

Europe's migrant crisis took center-stage at the U.N. human rights council on Monday, as European states said the need to end the conflict in Syria was at an all-time high.

After formally receiving the latest report from U.N. investigators on widespread rights abuses committed by all sides during the four-year war, European delegations stressed that ending conflict in Syria was the only way to contain the flow of people seeking refuge on the continent.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday as Israel frets over a Russian military buildup in Syria.

Netanyahu was accompanied by his army and intelligence chiefs in a rare step for an overseas visit that Israel said would focus on Russia's maneuvering in the war-torn nation. 

A growing number of "disillusioned" Islamic State fighters are defecting from the jihadist group and could be used by governments to deter potential recruits, a report published Monday said.

At least 58 people have left the group and publicly spoken about their defection since January 2014, according to the report by the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence (ISCR) at King's College London.

Heavy bombardment by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad killed at least 18 civilians on Monday in a residential district of the northern city of Aleppo, a monitor said.

"Regime forces fired on the al-Shaar neighborhood in Aleppo city's east, which is controlled by the opposition, and killed at least 18 civilians," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

A growing number of "disillusioned" Islamic State fighters are defecting from the jihadist group and could be used by governments to deter potential recruits, a report published Monday said.

At least 58 people have left the group and publicly spoken about their defection since January 2014, according to the report by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence (ISCR) at King's College London.