The Syrian province of Idlib, one of the last remaining rebel strongholds in the country's north, is experiencing a new wave of Covid-19 infections, driven by the more contagious Delta variant. This comes as the regime intensifies bombings in the region, putting local hospitals under even greater pressure. We take a closer look.

The upsurge in violence in Syria combined with its plummeting economy are making life increasingly bleak for civilians, United Nations investigators say.

A new Syrian-Jordanian deal on energy for Lebanon is being seen by some as another step towards the international rehabilitation of the brutal Assad regime.

In its first report on the Syrian war death toll since 2014, the UN said at least 350,209 people have died in the decade-long conflict. But admitted the real toll is likely to be much higher.

Most of Lebanon is set to lose access to state-generated electricity, forcing residents to buy electricity from private providers or be plunged in darkness.

Rifaat al-Assad, dubbed the butcher of Hama, was exiled by the Syrian president's late father. He was facing four years behind bars in France for laundering embezzled funds.

Power supplies in Lebanon have been restored after a blackout on Saturday caused by a fuel shortage. The army agreed to contribute fuel as an interim measure.

Supporters of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah staged a protest after a court dismissed a legal complaint about the judge investigating the 2020 Beirut port explosion.

Heavy fighting claimed at least six lives and left dozens wounded in Lebanon's capital as an escalation of tensions around last year's massive portside explosion turned parts of Beirut into a war-zone. The army deployed tanks and troops to quell street battles that sparked memories of the 1975-1990 civil war for a city already traumatised by last year's blast disaster and Lebanon's worst-ever economic crisis.

The army is investigating a soldier suspected of firing toward protesters during Thursday's deadly clashes over the Beirut blast probe. Meanwhile, families of the blast victims have backed the judge leading the probe.

The new Lebanese government is to resume negotiations with the IMF after talks stalled 13 months ago. Success, however, is not guaranteed, warn some experts.

At least 10 civilians were killed and another 35 injured on Wednesday by an Assad regime attack in Idlib, northwestern Syria, according to medical sources. Artillery of regime forces and Iranian-backed foreign terrorist groups targeted a marketplace in the center of the town of Ariha in rural southern Idlib, an area under opposition control.