Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has defended the presence of fighters from the Lebanese Shia Hezbollah movement among the ranks of the Syrian army, saying his government had legitimately requested their help.In an interview aired on Tuesday night on the official Hezbollah channel, al-Manar, Assad said the presence of non-Syrian fighters among the Syrian army was no justification for the presence of foreign fighters in the ranks of the rebels.

Gunmen wearing Afghan military uniforms have killed two NATO soldiers at a base in the country's south, the coalition said, in the latest "insider attack" on foreign troops.Wednesday's attack in the volatile province of Helmand is the first such incident since April, highlighting long-simmering tensions between Afghan and foreign forces.

Islamic State militants have destroyed Palmyra's ancient temple of Baalshamin, Syrian officials and activists say.

Syria's head of antiquities was quoted as saying the temple was blown up on Sunday. The UK -based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that it happened a month ago.

IS took control of Palmyra in May, sparking fears for the site.

Women in Saudi Arabia have begun registering to vote in municipal elections, the first time they are able to take part in the electoral process in the kingdom. Women will also be able to stand as candidates in the polls, slated for December.The ongoing voter registration and the planned vote usher in a new and "exciting time" for women, as they participate in local governance, Afnan Linjawi, a Saudi writer, told Al Jazeera on Wednesday.

Syrian activists say at least 80 people have died in government air strikes on a marketplace in the rebel-held town of Douma, near Damascus.Around 200 people were reportedly injured in the attack.Government forces have been regularly attacking Douma and its surrounding areas in recent months with air strikes and helicopter barrel bombs.Hundreds of civilians have been killed alongside opposition fighters.

More than 50 people have been killed in Iraq after a truck bomb targeted a crowded Baghdad market, officials say.

A French woman who was taken hostage in Yemen in February has been freed, the French presidency has said.

Pro-government forces in Yemen have retaken the country's largest airbase in a battle with Houthi rebels, a spokesman for the forces told the BBC.

Police storm mosque following skirmishes between Palestinian worshippers and Jewish hardliners.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has vowed to win his country's long-running civil war while acknowledging his troops are struggling to maintain control over territory amid lack of manpower.

A car bomb attack on a military convoy in south-eastern Turkey has killed two soldiers and injured four others, Turkish officials say.

The deadly stabbing of a man in broad daylight in one of Beirut’s busiest streets and in front of dozens of bystanders has shaken Lebanese society and raised questions about the perceived culture of impunity in the country.

World powers have reached a deal with Iran on limiting Iranian nuclear activity in return for the lifting of international economic sanctions.

Islamic State militants have said they were behind a deadly explosion that severely damaged the Italian consulate in Egypt's capital, Cairo.

A top Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group commander in Afghanistan has reportedly been killed in a US drone strike in the country's east this week, an Afghan intelligence officer has said.