BRUSSELS -- European Union (EU) leaders on Thursday greenlighted plans to enhance the bloc's defense capabilities and reaffirmed their support for Ukraine.

At a one-day special summit here, the leaders endorsed the ReArm Europe plan introduced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday. (EU-Ukraine-Defense)

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DAMASCUS -- Syria's coastal Latakia province witnessed armed clashes Thursday as at least 16 security personnel were killed in coordinated attacks by armed groups, while pro-government protests erupted in major cities to show support for the security forces.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, reported that most of the casualties were from northwestern Idlib province and included members of the General Security Directorate and the Ministry of Defense. The security forces were ambushed in Jableh and Latakia, two cities in Latakia province, by militants allegedly backed by regional powers and remnants of the former government. (Syria-Clash-Casualty)

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GAZA -- The Israeli army on Thursday killed three Palestinians in the east of Gaza City, according to Palestinian sources and eyewitnesses.

"The attack targeted a group of people near the Al-Tawfiq Mosque in the Al-Shuja'iyya neighborhood, in the northern Gaza Strip," the sources told Xinhua. (Gaza-Hamas-Attack)

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TEHRAN -- One person was killed and 10 others injured in a blast resulting from a fire in a Quonset hut at a military center northeast of the Iranian capital Tehran on Thursday, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

The fire was reported at 13:38 local time (1008 GMT), following which firefighters were immediately sent to the scene, Mehr quoted Jalal Maleki, the spokesman of the Tehran Fire Department, as saying. (Iran-Blast-Death) Enditem

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