Kazakhstan said Friday it had evacuated 231 of its citizens, most of them children, from Syria after they travelled or were taken there to join the Islamic State group.

Air attacks and shelling of schools and hospitals in northwest Syria amount to "an unacceptable violation of international law," the EU's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said.

Air strikes by Syrian regime ally Russia on Sunday forced the closure of two hospitals and also damaged a third one in the jihadist-held Syrian province of Idlib, a war monitor said.

The U.N. special envoy for Syria said Tuesday that he is "optimistic" an agreement can be reached on the long-sought formation of a committee to draft a new constitution for the war-torn country so it can meet this summer.

Geir Pederson told reporters after briefing the Security Council that he based his optimism on the "intensive" and "very good" dialogue he has had with the Syrian government and opposition — as well as "tangible progress," including on the committee's rules of procedure and composition.

Germany has stopped processing some applications for asylum by Syrian refugees, pending a new assessment of the security situation in the war-torn country, according to a report on Saturday.

Regime shelling killed seven civilians in Syria's jihadist-controlled Idlib region on Thursday, in the latest violence to threaten a seven-month-old truce, a war monitor said.

Syrian Kurds on Saturday repatriated 25 women and children from Iraq's Yazidi minority after freeing them during the final push against the Islamic State group, a local official said.

The US-backed fighters say they rescued some 300 Yazidi women and children during the fight to take the jihadists' last scrap of territory in eastern Syria.

An Israeli air strike in central Syria wounded three combatants early Saturday, the official SANA news agency reported.

After his tank ran dry, Syrian taxi driver Abu Sammy had to get out and push his car with a passer-by's help to a long queue at a Damascus petrol station.

Amnesty International accused Syria's government and its Russian allies Thursday of striking medical facilities and a school in rebel-held Idlib province with air and artillery strikes over the past month.