Six Pakistani soldiers and 22 militants were killed in armed clashes in a northwestern region on Saturday, the army said, amid an increase in attacks on security forces in the area.

The firefights took place in three districts after soldiers conducted intelligence-based operations in Waziristan and its adjoining regions, the army statement said, Reuters reported.

The Pakistan Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), said its fighters had killed the soldiers by storming a security checkpoint. It did not say how many militants had died in the clashes.

The TTP has accelerated its attacks in recent months, mostly targeting members of the security forces.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he hoped Syrian rebels will continue their advance against President Bashar al-Assad's forces in Syria, but voiced concern about what he said were terrorist organizations in their midst.

Erdogan told reporters after Friday prayers he was closely following the push which he said was heading to the Syrian capital. But he suggested he had mixed feelings, given some of the forces involved.

"The target is Damascus," he said. "I would say we hope for this advance to continue without any issues.

"However, while this resistance there with terrorist organisations is continuing, we had made a call to Assad," he added, referring to his approaches to Assad earlier this year to meet and normalise ties after more than a decade of animosity.

"These problematic advances continuing as a whole in the region are not in a manner we desire, our heart does not want these. Unfortunately, the region is in a bind," he said, without elaborating.

Erdogan's comments underlined the complex structure of the rebel forces fighting Assad, and the mixed allegiances among actors on the ground, including Turkey.

Ankara has for years supported Syrian opposition forces looking to oust the Iran and Russia-backed Assad, but also views some regional players as terrorists, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist former Al-Qaeda affiliate that is part of the rebel force.

Syrian rebels captured the city of Hama on Thursday, a major victory in a week-old lightning advance across northern Syria and a devastating new blow to Assad.

Turkey has said it had no involvement in the operation and that it provided no support to the rebels.

It has repeatedly said Assad needs to engage in talks with the Syrian people for a political solution and that Ankara did not want to see a fresh wave of migrants fleeing the violence.

The foreign ministers of Turkey, Iran and Russia will meet in Doha on Saturday as part of the Astana Process, established to seek a political solution to the 13-year old Syrian conflict.

(Reuters) 

Syrian rebels advancing against government forces pushed close on Tuesday to the major city of Hama, rebels and a war monitor said, after their sudden capture of Aleppo last week rocked President Bashar al-Assad.

Rebels and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said insurgents had captured villages including Maar Shahur a few miles north of the city. Reuters reported that reinforcements were arriving in the area.

An attack on Hama would ramp up pressure on Assad, whose Russian and Iranian allies have scrambled to support him against a reviving rebellion. 

The city has remained in government hands since civil war erupted in 2011.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in an Arabic-language interview that Tehran would consider sending troops to Syria if Damascus asked, and Russian President Vladimir Putin urged an end to "terrorist aggression" in Syria, RIA reported.

Iraq Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani said Baghdad would not be "a mere spectator" in Syria and blamed Israeli military strikes on the Syrian government for the rebel advance, his office said.

Compounding Assad's problems, fighters from a U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led coalition battled government forces in the northeast, both sides said, opening a new front along a vital supply route.

Last week's rebel seizure of Aleppo - Syria's largest city before the war - marked the biggest offensive for years.

The front lines of the conflict have been frozen since 2020 after Assad clawed back most of the country from rebels, thanks to help from Russian air power and military help from Iran and its network of regional Shi'ite militia groups.

Now, however, Russia has been concentrating on the war in Ukraine, while Israeli strikes over the past three months have decimated the leadership of Hezbollah, the strongest Iran-backed force fighting in Syria.

On Monday, hundreds of Iran-backed Iraqi militia fighters entered Syria to back up Syrian government forces, Iraqi and Syrian sources said, but Hezbollah does not plan to send forces now.

A rebel source said Iran-backed militia fighters were among the forces they were battling outside Hama.

In recent days, Russian and Syrian government warplanes have intensified airstrikes against rebels, both sides have said. Rescue workers have reported deadly strikes on hospitals in Aleppo and Idlib. - Reuters