The talks, in Paris, are the latest bid to reduce tensions between two longtime enemies. A deal would help both curry favor with the Trump administration.

Images shared by Syria's state-run news agency showed blood on carpets, holes in the walls, shattered windows and fire damage.

Clashes broke out on Syria’s coast between protesters from the Alawite religious minority and counterdemonstrators on Sunday, killing at least three people and injuring dozens of others, health officials said.

Syria has begun circulating new currency bills, a year after Bashar Assad's government fell. Central Bank Governor Mokhles Nazer said Saturday that the exchange of old Syrian pounds with new banknotes has officially started.

Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has held a phone call with Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa to discuss developments in Syria and ways to strengthen stability, the Syrian Presidency has said.

Britain’s and France’s air forces conducted a joint operation on Saturday evening to bomb a suspected underground arms cache previously used by the Islamic State group in Syria, Britain’s defence ministry said.

At least four people have been killed and dozens wounded in clashes on Syria’s coast in the aftermath of the deadly bombing of an Alawite mosque.

Despite its defeat in Syria in 2019, IS' sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in Syria and Iraq, where the extremists once declared their caliphate.