Syria's main opposition group signalled it would announce Friday whether it will join next week's "peace congress" in Russia, as the UN held separate talks on finding a way out of conflict in the country.

Regime officials and the main opposition Syrian Negotiations Commission (SNC) were both in Vienna for two days of talks that began Thursday, with Western powers worrying that Moscow is seeking to undermine the UN-backed talks with its own diplomatic push. 

For years, Abu George's bar in Damascus' Old City served imported beers under portraits of famous foreigners Che Guevara and Marilyn Monroe -- but the brews on offer now are Syrian-made.

A Christian legislator was Thursday elected speaker of parliament in predominantly Muslim Syria for the first time in decades.

A US-backed force battling the Islamic State group in eastern Syria said six of its fighters were wounded on Saturday in air strikes by regime and Russian warplanes. 

After breaking an Islamic State group blockade, Syria's army is seeking to encircle the remaining jihadist-held parts of Deir Ezzor city, a military source said Wednesday.

In a humid room in the besieged Syrian town of Douma, Abu Nabil inspects the pearly white mushrooms sprouting from white sacks hanging from a ceiling.

A region besieged by the regime forces east of Syria's capital on Sunday received U.N. aid for the first time in five years, a U.N. source said.

Russia has deployed military police to monitor two safe zones being established in Syria, the defense ministry in Moscow said Monday.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Monday missiles it fired into Syria had successfully hit Islamic State group targets in retaliation for Tehran attacks claimed by the jihadists earlier this month.

More than 1,200 people including rebels left two opposition-held districts of Damascus on Friday under an agreement that will bring Syria's government closer to exerting full control over the capital.