Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim in a televised address on Saturday disclosed that two Turkish soldiers have died after their helicopter was shot down during Ankara's military operation against Syrian Kurdish fighters in northern Syria. According to Al Jazeera, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had earlier said an army helicopter had been "shot down" near the southern Hatay province. He stated that the ATAK aircraft crashed at around 1pm local time (10:00 GMT).

Israel on Saturday said it launched heavy air strikes in Syria, and hit air defences and Iranian targets in retaliation of its F-16 fighter jet that was downed by Syria. The Syrian army had claimed to have brought down an Israeli F-16 that crashed on Saturday in northern Israel in a major escalation of tension. The Israeli military said early assessments indicated the jet had been shot down by Syrian fire, but this was still unconfirmed.

An Israeli F-16 fighter has been shot down by Syrian anti-aircraft fire on a raid to destroy Iranian facilities allegedly responsible for launching a drone into Israel. The Israeli military claims it shot down the drone and struck Iranian targets in Syria after what it called a “severe and irregular violation of Israeli sovereignty”. The military says its planes faced heavy anti-aircraft counter fire from Syria that forced Israeli pilots to abandon an F-16 jet that crashed in the Jezreel valley in northern Israel.

The South Korean President, Moon Jae-in has been invited to travel to North Korea, following a formal invitation from the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, potentially setting up the first meeting of Korean leaders since 2007. CNN quoted presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom as saying the invite was presented to South Korean President by Kim's younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, during a historic meeting between North and South Korean officials at Seoul's presidential palace on Saturday.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde on Saturday urged Arab countries to slash public wages and subsidies in order to rein in spending, achieve sustainable growth and create jobs. Speaking at the one-day Arab Fiscal Forum in Dubai, Lagarde welcomed “promising” reforms adopted by some Arab countries, but insisted much more was needed to overcome daunting economic and social problems.

The US-led coalition fighting ISIS in Syria conducted air and artillery strikes against pro-regime forces in Syria on Wednesday, killing over 100 pro-regime fighters, the coalition said in a statement.

The coalition said the strikes had been carried out after forces allied with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "initiated an unprovoked attack" against a well-established Syrian Democratic Forces headquarters where coalition advisers were working with US-backed Syrian fighters.

Some 500 pro-regime troops carried out the attack using artillery, mortar fire and Russian-made tanks, a US military official said.