From consolidating Iranian influence in Iraq to waging war against the "Islamic State" in Syria, General Qassem Soleimani was an instrumental figure for Iranian aspirations in the region. DW examines his life.

Syrian local activists organise a football game in a muddy field in a camp for the internally displaced west of Sarmada town in Syria's rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib, near the border with Turkey. The latest round of violence in Syria's nearly nine-year-old war, saw regime forces upping their deadly bombardment of the northwestern province of Idlib, pushing, in December alone according to the United Nations, some 284,000 from their homes in the jihadist-run region of some three million people.

Activists distribute Christmas presents to displaced Syrian children living in the Washukanni camp for internally displaced persons (IDP) in the mainly Kurdish northeastern Syrian province of Hasakeh. The gesture is part of the "We are with you" campaign organised by Kurdish Syrian youths living abroad who decided to send gifts to displaced children as a result of the eight-year-old conflict in Syria.

Two Syrian families pack their bags and flee their homes not knowing where to go. Like them, tens of thousands of people have fled Maaret al-Numan region, located in jihadist-held Idlib province, since December 16, following an uptick in airstrikes, according to the United Nations.

China and Russia have been sharply criticized for vetoing a UN resolution to extend cross-border aid to Syria. Aid groups have warned of a humanitarian disaster if the life-saving assistance were to stop.

Hundreds of Europeans who joined "Islamic State" abroad are in detention in northern Syria. Among them are Aicha and her four kids, who wish to return to Germany. Aicha's lawyer explains the family's predicament.

As the Syrian army advances into Idlib province, nearly a quarter of a million civilians have been displaced over the past two weeks. Turkey has called for a fresh ceasefire agreement to prevent a humanitarian crisis.

Syrians in violence-plagued Idlib bracing for a harsh winter and suffering from an acute fuel crisis have turned to heating alternatives like burning pistachio shells to keep warm.

In a camp for the displaced in northern Syria, Nasrallah scatters mushroom spores into a bag of wet hay, hoping they will sprout and feed his family. After civil war erupted in Syria eight years ago, Nasrallah started growing the fungi in his home province of Hama. But earlier this year, increased regime bombardment on the Hama region forced his family to flee north towards the Turkish border.

Displaced Syrians from the south of Idlib province fight the cold as they sit out in the open and queue to receive food aid from a truck in the countryside west of the town of Dana in the northwestern Syrian region.

Israel has said it attacked Iranian and Syrian military targets near Damascus in retaliation to Syrian rockets fired towards Israel the day before. Syria's air defenses destroyed most of Israel's missiles.

German authorities say they've arrested a Syrian observed in chat networks seeking ingredients to make the explosive TAPT. When and where the suspect, allegedly with Islamist leanings, was planning an attack is unclear.