Syrian rebels on Thursday re-entered a key northwestern town they lost earlier this month, reversing one of the main gains of the government's devastating offensive in Idlib province.

The Russian defense ministry on Thursday accused Turkey of violating a peace deal for Syria's Idlib by supporting rebels with artillery fire and drones.

Iraq's divided parliament Thursday postponed a confidence vote for the government of prime minister-designate Mohammad Allawi over lack of quorum, plunging the country deeper into political uncertainty.

The son of Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has been acquitted in a high-profile corruption case in which a prominent businessman was sentenced to prison, the national radio reported Thursday.

The Libyan capital's only working airport was hit by rocket fire Thursday, aviation officials said, in the latest violation of a ceasefire between warring sides vying for control of Tripoli.

Israel approved nearly 1,800 new homes in settlements in the occupied West Bank Thursday, the country’s right-wing Defense Minister announced, four days ahead of a general election.

Turkey-backed Syrian opposition fighters on Thursday retook a strategic northwestern town in Syria that was recently captured by government forces, and cut the highway linking the capital, Damascus, with the northern city of Aleppo days after the government reopened it for the first time since 2012.

The retaking of Saraqeb which sits on the highway is a setback for Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces who have scored major gains in a weeks long Russian-backed campaign in the last rebel stronghold in Idlib province. Officials had hailed the reopening of the motorway, known as the M5, as a major victory in the nine-year conflict.

The Syrian town of Kafranbel was long a symbol of humourous defiance to Damascus, famed for its witty posters, murals and cartoons, so its recapture by regime forces spells a heavy blow, activists say.

Tunisia's new government won a confidence vote in parliament on Thursday, after more than four months of political wrangling since elections.

Two Turkish soldiers have been killed and two others wounded in an air strike in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, the defence ministry said on Thursday.