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Double Bomb Blasts Kill 26 in Syria's Hasakeh

At least 26 people including two children were killed on Monday in twin suicide car bomb attacks in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakeh, a monitor said.

The attack was later claimed by the Islamic State group, which has regularly targeted Hasakeh and briefly captured parts of the city earlier this year before being expelled.

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Emergency EU Migrant Talks as Germany Reinstates Border Controls

European ministers will hold emergency talks Monday on plans to distribute migrants around the continent, after Germany reintroduced border controls admitting it could no longer cope with the influx.

The dramatic reinstatement of border checks Sunday signalled a U-turn on Chancellor Angela Merkel's earlier decision to throw open the country's borders to Syrian refugees.

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Lebanon to Call for Redistribution of Refugees

Lebanon is expected to participate on Tuesday in a conference of states hosting Syrian refugees in Brussels, the head of the delegation, MP Michel Moussa, said.

Moussa told An Nahar newspaper published on Monday that he will call in his speech for providing Lebanon with promised assistance to confront the refugee crisis and to redistribute the displaced Syrians on countries capable of hosting them.

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Islamic Body Urges U.N. Force to Help Stem Syria Tide

The United Nations should consider a peacekeeping force for war-ravaged Syria to help curb the surge of refugees which is destabilizing the region and beyond, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation said Sunday.

An emergency meeting of the 57-member group called on the U.N. Security Council to urgently consider creating "a multi-dimensional U.N. peacekeeping operation in Syria as a prelude to restoring security and stability in the country."

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Clashes near Damascus Kill 80 in Six Days

At least 80 rebels and regime fighters have been killed in six days of clashes northeast of Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said Sunday.

The deaths came in clashes that began on Tuesday when two prominent Islamist rebel groups launched simultaneous attacks on three areas outside the capital. 

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Russia Building Airstrip in Syria's Latakia, Says Monitor

Russia is building an airstrip in the Syrian regime's stronghold Latakia province, and has brought hundreds of technicians and military advisers to the site, a monitor said Sunday.

The claim comes as Washington accuses Moscow of a military build-up in Syria, where Russia has backed President Bashar Assad's regime against an uprising of more than four years.

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German Minister Urges Change in EU's Policy towards Syria

Germany's Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said Sunday Europe should stop looking on helplessly as "murder" rages on in Syria, as he called on the bloc to review its strategy on the conflict.

"The fight against the Syrian dictator Assad and the so-called Islamic State has not been carried out with the necessary determination," he told the Tagesspiegel newspaper in an interview published Sunday.

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Belgium 'Ready' to Send Troops to Syria after Order Restored

Belgium is ready to send ground troops to Syria as part of an international coalition but "we must first re-establish order," the country's defense minister, Steven Vandeput, said on Saturday.

Belgium has been a member of the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq since September last year, sending six F-16 jets and 120 personnel to join airstrikes, from a base in Jordan.

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State Media: Two Russian Aid Planes Land in Syria

Two Russian planes carrying humanitarian aid landed in Syria on Saturday, state media said, amid reports that Moscow is beefing up military support to its ally Damascus.

"Two Russian planes arrived today at the Latakia Martyr Bassil al-Assad international airport carrying 80 tonnes of humanitarian aid provided by Russia," state news reported.

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11 Dead in Rebel Shelling on Syria's Damascus

Eleven people were killed in rebel rocket fire on the Syrian capital Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday.

The Britain-based monitor said the deaths were in the Duwaylaa neighbourhood on the southeastern outskirts of Damascus, adding that most of those killed appeared to be civilians.

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