Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Syria on Wednesday to withdraw its troops from its military observation posts in northwestern Idlib province where clashes have intensified in recent days. 

Syrian militants affiliated with groups such as al-Qaida and the Islamic State group are currently being sent by Turkey to fight on behalf of the U.N.-supported government in Libya, according to two Libyan militia leaders and a Syrian war monitor.

Both sides in Libya's civil war receive equipment and backing from foreign countries. But Turkey, which has long trained and funded opposition fighters in Syria and relaxed its borders so foreign fighters joined IS, has in recent months been airlifting hundreds of them over to a new theater of war in Libya.

The Islamic State group has maintained its capabilities in Syria despite the death of its chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, an independent US government watchdog said in a report on Tuesday.

Israeli aircraft struck Hamas positions in Gaza early Wednesday, the military said, after Palestinians in the enclave launched projectiles and explosive balloons at the Jewish state.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday emphasized the U.N.'s role as the guardian of international law in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, days before U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law is to present a new Mideast peace plan to the Security Council.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey will not allow Syrian forces to gain ground in the last opposition stronghold of Idlib, in comments published Tuesday, a day after eight Turks died in regime fire.

"Syria is right now trying to buy time by driving those innocent and grieving people in Idlib toward our borders. We will not allow Syria the opportunity to gain ground there," Erdogan said in quotes published by the Hurriyet newspaper and broadcaster NTV.  

Greece will send some of its Patriot defence missiles to Saudi Arabia under a programme involving the US, Britain and France, the government spokesman said Tuesday.

Anti-government demonstrators faced off against followers of influential cleric Moqtada Sadr in protest squares across Iraq Tuesday, a day after one demonstrator was killed in a clash between the two sides.

A Russian-backed Syrian government offensive against the country's last rebel enclave has displaced more than half a million people in two months, the United Nations said Tuesday.

Islamic State extremists are mounting increasingly bold attacks in Syria and Iraq following their loss of territory in both countries and are planning for the breakout of their fighters in detention facilities, U.N. experts said in a new report.

The panel of experts said in the report to the U.N. Security Council that the militant group — known as IS and ISIL — is also exploiting weaknesses in security in both countries.