Militants launched a major attack on the Iraqi city of Samarra on Thursday, killing six people and occupying neighborhoods, in the latest display of their reach and the weakness of security forces.

The militants, travelling in dozens of vehicles, some mounted with anti-aircraft guns, attacked a major checkpoint on the southeast side of Samarra, killing the security forces guarding it and burning their vehicles, witnesses said.

The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc noted on Thursday the “maturity” demonstrated by the government in confronting the various challenges facing Lebanon, namely the vacuum in the presidency.

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “The government must play a role in speeding up the process of electing a president.”

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is expected to visit Turkey on Monday, for the first time since he was elected last year, a Turkish official said.

The Iranian leader is expected to meet Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara for talks on bilateral ties and the broader Middle East, the official told Agence France Presse on Thursday.

The U.S. embassy revealed on Thursday that Washington is providing more than $51 million to the World Food Program and Non-Governmental Organizations in Lebanon, the highest amount in terms of assistance provided to countries neighboring war-torn Syria.

In a series of tweets, the embassy said that “the U.S. is committed to delivering humanitarian assistance to Syrians through the U.N. broad network, no matter where they reside or have sought refuge.”

The head of the mission overseeing the destruction of Syria's chemical arsenal urged Damascus on Wednesday to urgently hand over its remaining agents, and pressed countries with influence to intervene.

Under a deal backed by the United Nations and brokered by the United States and Russia after Washington threatened air strikes against Syrian government targets, the weapons were to be destroyed by June 30.

Supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad opened fire in the air and launched fireworks in several Lebanese regions as his expected election victory was officially announced on Wednesday evening, as others roamed the streets in convoys.

“Gunfire erupted in some of Beirut's suburbs and central Bekaa towns in celebration of Assad's win,” LBCI television reported.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has been re-elected in a landslide, officials said Wednesday, capturing a third seven-year term in the middle of a bloody 3-year-old uprising against his rule that has devastated the country.

Syria's parliament speaker, Jihad Laham, announced the final results from Tuesday's election, saying Assad garnered 10,319,723 votes, or 88.7 percent. Laham said Assad's two challengers, Hassan al-Nouri and Maher Hajjar, won 4.3 percent and 3.2 percent respectively. The Supreme Constitutional Court put turnout at 73.42 percent.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday dismissed a presidential election in war-ravaged Syria as "a great big zero" as he visited neighboring Lebanon.

Tuesday's "elections are non-elections, the elections are a great big zero," Kerry told reporters in Beirut after arriving on an unannounced visit.

Condemning Syrian elections as "illegitimate," the European Union on Wednesday urged President Bashar Assad "to re-engage in genuine political negotiations."

"We call on the regime to re-engage in genuine political negotiations that will produce conditions allowing for a real expression of the will of the Syrian people," it said.

World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim said on Wednesday international support for Jordan and Lebanon to help them cope with hosting more than 1.6 million Syrian refugees was "disappointing."

"So far the support for Jordan and also Lebanon... has been frankly disappointing. We need donor countries and all who care about peace and stability in this region to step up...," Kim told a joint news conference in Amman with Jordan's planning minister Ibrahim Seif.