Syria's government

Russia's foreign ministry on Thursday called on Turkey to refrain from making provocative statements about events in Syria amid rising tensions over the Syrian province of Idlib.

Syria's government has agreed to allow planes from regional aviation giant Qatar Airways to fly over the country after eight years of conflict kept its planes at bay.

The Syrian army said Israel targeted a military site in Hama province early on Sept. 7 which a war monitor said could be linked to chemical weapons production. 

The airstrike killed two soldiers and caused damage near the town of Masyaf, an army statement said. It warned of the "dangerous repercussions of this aggressive action to the security and stability of the region."

The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) will reportedly launch an offensive to oust Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants from Deir al-Zor province, an official from the alliance told Reuters on Aug. 25. 

Syria's government and opposition meet on July 10 for a seventh round of UN-sponsored peace talks with little expectation of a breakthrough to end the six-year conflict.

The talks in Geneva open after a ceasefire took effect in three provinces in southern Syria on Sunday, with a monitor reporting that the region was mostly quiet despite scattered violations.

The US Senate voted nearly unanimously on Thursday for legislation to impose new sanctions on Russia and force President Donald Trump to get Congress' approval before easing any existing sanctions on Russia, Reuters reports.

Russia on May 19 condemned strikes by the US-led coalition against Syrian forces as "unacceptable", state media reported, after the bombing of pro-government troops.     

A week of infighting killed nearly 169 people in the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta region outside Syria's capital Damascus before calm returned on May 5, a monitor said.

The clashes erupted on April 28 between the powerful Army of Islam faction and the former al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front, along with ally Faylaq al-Rahman.

President Donald Trump's administration accused Russia on Tuesday of trying to shield Syria's government from blame for a deadly gas attack, as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson brought a Western message to Moscow condemning its support for President Bashar al-Assad.

Russia accused the main Syrian opposition group at peace talks in Geneva of sabotaging the process on March 2, a day after Moscow's Foreign Ministry officials met the rebels for rare talks on how to narrow their differences.