Moscow said Monday there would be no assault on Syria's Idlib as the leaders of Russia and Turkey agreed to create a demilitarized zone around the Syrian rebel-held province.

The grotto in northwestern Syria has already saved his children's lives once. Fearing more air attacks, Abdulmonem is expanding the makeshift bomb shelter in case they need to take refuge there again.

Syrians in government-controlled areas cast their ballots on Sunday in the first local elections there since 2011, when the country's ill-fated uprising erupted against President Bashar al-Assad's rule.

Seven years since the last vote, the conflict has killed more than 360,000 people, forced millions more to flee, and left the economy in tatters.

Germany is ready to contribute to rebuilding Syria if a political solution was found for fair elections in the country, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Friday.

The Afghan conflict could overtake Syria as the deadliest conflict in the world this year, analysts say, as violence surges 17 years after the US-led invasion.

The grim assessment contrasts sharply with the consistently upbeat public view of the conflict from NATO's Resolute Support mission in Kabul, and underscores the growing sense of hopelessness in the war-torn country.

Government forces shelled Syria's last major rebel bastion on Wednesday, hours after UN chief Antonio Guterres warned the Security Council any full-blown offensive in Idlib risks triggering a "bloodbath".

Kurdish authorities in Syria's diverse northeast are facing swelling anger from the area's Syriac Christians after shutting down more than a dozen schools run by the ancient minority.

The leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran on Friday discussed a step-by-step "stabilization" in Syria's Idlib, with a possibility of peace with some rebel groups, Russian President Vladimir Putin said after the talks.

Head of Lebanon’s General Security agency Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim made a “quick” visit to Syria where he met with Syrian officials and discussed various files including the repatriation of Syrians in Lebanon, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday.

The Trump administration is now pledging the U.S. will remain in Syria until the "enduring defeat" of the Islamic State group, a move that could signal open-ended American involvement in the war-torn country.

The announcement "means we're not in a hurry to pull out," the U.S. special representative for Syria, James Jeffrey, told journalists in Washington Thursday, although he added that didn't necessarily mean a long-term American military presence in the country.