The autonomous Kurdish administration in northeast Syria said Friday it started evacuating a camp housing 7,000 displaced people to protect them from Turkish shelling.

Riots broke out Friday in the Al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria which is home to thousands of relatives of suspected Islamic State fighters, Kurdish officials said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper has warned Turkey to halt its incursion into northeastern Syria, warning it could have "serious consequences" for Ankara, the Pentagon said Friday.

The Netherlands is to freeze all weapons exports to Turkey in the aftermath of Ankara's assault on Kurdish forces in northern Syria, the Dutch foreign ministry said Friday.

Three civilians were killed Friday when an explosives-laden vehicle detonated in a busy neighborhood of Qamishli, one of the main Kurdish towns in northeastern Syria, officials said.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg expressed "serious concerns" on Friday about Turkey's ongoing operation against Kurdish forces in Syria and called for "restraint". 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Turkey's military operation in Syria could lead to the revival of the Islamic State group in the region.

Putin said Kurds who were guarding thousands of imprisoned IS fighters are now fleeing.

Gaza's Hamas rulers are facing a rare and growing chorus of criticism, with little to show after 18 months of mass protests along the Israeli frontier organized by the Palestinian militant group.

The mass protests at the frontier with Israel were meant to draw attention to the plight of the territory's 2 million people. When the protests began, Hamas quickly seized upon the popular idea and transformed the quiet gatherings into violent confrontations.

Turkish and allied forces faced stiff Kurdish resistance on Friday as they battled to seize key Syrian border towns, on the third day of a broad offensive that has sparked a civilian exodus.

Deadly protests in Iraq have exposed a rift within the country's Shiite political factions benefiting hardliners ready to embrace authoritarianism, experts say.