Israel has deployed the Iron Dome defense system to the north on the border with Lebanon, likely amid fears that Hizbullah could get an infusion of cash and weapons from Iran after the nuclear deal.

In an exclusive interview with FoxNews.com, the commander of Israel’s Active Defense Air Wing, Col. Yoni Saada Marom, said that the military drills were not a direct reaction to recent events, but made clear that Hizbullah and other groups close to Israel's borders presented a potentially heightened threat.

The Taliban appointed Mullah Akhtar Mansour as their new leader, a statement said Friday, marking a historic power transition for the militant movement that has waged a 14-year insurgency in Afghanistan.

The Taliban also announced his deputies -- Sirajuddin Haqqani, who leads the Taliban-allied Haqqani network and has a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head, and Haibatullah Akhundzada, the former head of the Taliban courts.

The Pentagon denied reports Thursday that new graduates of its program to train Syrian rebels had been captured by rivals from an al-Qaida affiliate.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said earlier that al-Nusra Front had kidnapped eight members of a U.S.-backed rebel unit.

At least 18 people were killed Thursday when Islamic State group jihadists attacked a town in northern Syria recently captured by Kurdish forces, a monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said several IS fighters infiltrated Sarrin, in Aleppo province, and attacked a school being used as a base by the Kurds.

Pointing to a crater left by one of scores of Turkish air strikes in Iraq's Kurdistan region, a PKK rebel official said that "Turkey has declared war against us".

For three decades, Turkey was at war with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which was seeking an independent state in southeastern Anatolia.

Al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate Al-Nusra Front has kidnapped eight rebels who participated in a U.S. training program to fight the Islamic State group, a monitor said Thursday.

"Yesterday evening, forces from Al-Nusra Front kidnapped the commander of Division 30, Colonel Nadim Hassan, along with seven members of the Division, including commander Farhan al-Jassem," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Five people died Thursday in new attacks on the Turkish security forces blamed on Kurdish militants, as Ankara stepped up its controversial campaign against the separatist rebels.

A new wave of violence included the killing of three Turkish troops that the army said was carried out by Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants, the deadliest such attack on the security forces since the crisis began last week.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter has sought to reassure worried lawmakers on the nuclear deal with Iran and stressed that the Islamic Republic and its proxies, including Hizbullah, continue to be a threat.

Iran and its proxies still present security challenges, Carter said on Wednesday at a committee hearing as part of the White House's aggressive campaign to convince Congress to back the Iranian nuclear deal, which calls on Iran to curb its nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief.

Top U.S. military officers sought to reassure worried lawmakers Wednesday that U.S. forces would check Iran's "malign" influence in the Middle East should Congress greenlight the nuclear deal with Tehran.

Many Republicans and some skeptical Democrats have voiced concerns that the historic accord reached with the Islamic republic this month in Vienna would trigger a regional nuclear arms race, embolden and strengthen Iran and put key U.S. ally Israel in jeopardy.

A court handed down jail terms of up to 20 years Wednesday after a trial of 32 people charged with running one of Belgium's largest jihadist recruitment networks sending fighters to Syria, reports said.

Many of the defendants were tried in absentia, among them Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was sentenced to 20 years, the Belga news agency said.