In the sun-soaked coastal city of Latakia, a stronghold of Syria's President Bashar Assad, shopkeeper Khaled says he already misses the sound of Russian warplanes screaming overhead.

When the stylish young man heard that Moscow would pull the bulk of its airforce out of Syria, he was devastated.

At least 16 civilians, among them eight children, were killed on Friday in air strikes on the northern Syrian city of Raqa by unidentified planes, a monitoring group said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said five women were also among the dead in Raqa, the main Syrian bastion of the Islamic State jihadist group.

Syria's government on Friday said it held "useful" talks with the United Nations envoy on a political solution to the conflict, but stopped short of meeting his call for clear plans on a new government.

The Damascus regime's lead negotiator Bashar al-Jafaari spoke for just over a minute after his meeting with U.N. mediator Staffan de Mistura and refused to take questions.

Russia's military pullout from Syria is welcome and could help slow the flood of refugees causing Europe's worst migrant crisis in decades, European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker said Thursday.

"I welcome the initiatives taken by the Russian leadership to withdraw from Syria," Juncker said ahead of a crunch EU leaders summit on the migration crisis.

Two-thirds of Syria's Christians have left the country, an Aleppo bishop said Wednesday, blaming violence and insecurity spread by extremist groups and insisting most Christians still support the Syrian president.

Chaldean Catholic bishop Antoine Audo said there were about 1.5 million Christians in the country before the start of the conflict in March 2011.

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday will bestow state awards on Russian military personnel who fought in Syria after ordering the withdrawal of armed forces from the war-torn country, the Kremlin said.

More than 700 soldiers and officers from the Russian air forces, ground forces and navy, and other military officials, have been invited to take part in the ceremony, the Kremlin said in a statement on Wednesday.

Russia's withdrawal of forces from Syria is a "positive step" that will help the ongoing Geneva peace talks, Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said on Wednesday.

Russian warplanes began leaving Syria on Tuesday after Moscow's surprise decision to withdraw most of its forces from the war-torn country.

Peace talks to end the war in Syria intensified Wednesday with the inclusion of a pro-Russian opposition group, as the U.N. widened efforts to find a political solution to the conflict.

The entry into the Geneva talks of the so-called Moscow Group followed Russia's decision to withdraw most of its forces from Syria, where they had been fighting in support of President Bashar Assad.

Russia's surprise withdrawal from Syria has boosted the morale of rebels, jihadists and activists living in opposition-held areas who see the move as a major blow for the Damascus regime.

"Our morale is sky high. The regime will not be able to survive alone," said Raed al-Elewi, a commander for the Jaish al-Tahrir (Liberation Army) rebel group in Hama province in central Syria.

Military Examining Magistrate Judge Riyad Abou Ghida issued on Tuesday an indictment against 26 suspects linked to various terrorist bombings and attempted attacks throughout Lebanon.

The indictment was made against 26 suspects, some of whom are in custody, while others are at large.