Despite Israel's political leadership claiming that only the complete destruction of Hamas in Gaza is acceptable, its military leadership is increasingly vocal about the difficulty - or impossibility - of that task.

The UK has promised to liberalize trade with Syria, offering lower tariffs to the war-torn country as part of plans to bring its cost-of-living crisis under control.

Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has visited Syria for talks with President Bashar al-Assad about military cooperation as well as counterterrorism.

The top US military officials reportedly briefed lawmakers behind closed doors on the issue, after testifying publicly before the senate armed services committee on Tuesday