Turkey and Azerbaijan deny that Syrian mercenaries were used in the recent offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh but four Syrians have told the BBC that after enlisting for sentry duties in Azerbaijan, they were unexpectedly thrown into battle on the front line.

Head of the government of the Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani revealed on Wednesday that the fighters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorist organisation had brought additional forces from Syria and did not leave the district of Sinjar in the Nineveh governorate.

Iran-trained Syrian fighters were killed in an attack by the Islamic State in a dawn attack on the desert outpost outside the Euphrates Valley town of al-Mayadeen reports Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.