Philippine security forces and a Muslim rebel group said Sunday they had clashed in the country's south with an unspecified number of casualties, in violence rarely seen since the signing of a peace treaty.

Police commandos and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) members fought near the remote town of Mamasapano on the main southern island of Mindanao before dawn, regional military spokesman Captain Joan Petinglay said.

The Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, will head the government team in peace talks due to open in Moscow on Monday, a pro-government newspaper reported.

But the delegation will not join the talks until Wednesday, after two days of preliminary discussions among opposition participants, the Al-Watan newspaper reported.

Hizbullah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem stressed on Sunday that the Israeli airstrike in Syria's Quneitra is a direct assault against the party.

“There are huge similarities between the Israelis and the takfiri groups,” Qassem said during a popular rally to mourn the party fighters who were killed the raid last week.

The U.S. Department of State issued a new travel warning advisory to Lebanon over ongoing safety and security concerns, citing reports saying that future suicide bombing targets allegedly include Casino du Liban in Jounieh and Le Royal hotel in Dbayeh.

According to a statement issued by the embassy: “The development serves as an important reminder of the ongoing security concerns in Lebanon - even in areas which are normally considered less dangerous.”

Christians in the Bekaa Valley are reportedly taking up arms to combat any attack by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as cautious calm prevailed in Ras Baalbek region in eastern Lebanon after deadly clashes between the Lebanese army and militiamen.

Ad Diya newspaper reported on Sunday that Christians in the Bekaa Valley began purchasing personal arms, grenades and rocket-propelled grenades to combat any threats imposed by jihadists.

U.S.-led forces have carried out dozens of air strikes in Iraq to back up Kurdish forces advancing against Islamic State jihadists near the strategic city of Mosul, the American military said Saturday.

Over the past 72 hours, U.S. and coalition aircraft conducted 46 bombing raids in support of Kurdish peshmerga troops near Mosul and 80 hours of reconnaissance flights, the military said in a statement.

A Syrian refugee child has been beaten by a restaurant manager in the Turkish city Istanbul for eating a customer's leftovers, local media reported on Saturday.

A photo circulating on social media shows the 11-year-old boy sitting bloodied on stairs after having been beaten Wednesday by the manager of fast food chain Burger King's outlet in the Sirinevler district.

Syria's opposition factions called Saturday for "radical democratic change" in the war-torn country ahead of April talks aimed at unifying their plan for a political solution to the conflict.

In a two-day conference held in Cairo, the regime-tolerated opposition met with members of the exiled National Coalition and agreed on a 10-point vision, as well as announcing fresh talks slated for April.

The photos on display at a Beirut theater show Syrian refugees chopping wood, getting married, and playing in a Lebanese field. They are the work not of professionals, but Syrian refugee children.

Russia plans to bring together members of the Syrian regime and opposition in a new push to resuscitate talks on ending the country's nearly four-year civil war, although hopes of a breakthrough are slim.

The January 26-29 behind closed doors talks will include Syria's regime-tolerated domestic opposition and members of Bashar Assad's government but not the Western-backed exiled National Coalition.