Street fighting raged between Kurdish defenders and Islamic State militants who advanced into Kobani yesterday after subjecting the Syrian border town to an assault lasting almost three weeks, a monitoring group said.

Syrian government forces shelled the city of Homs yesterday, resident opposition activists and a rights activist said, as a six-person advance party of UN observers was due to arrive in Syria to monitor a ceasefire meant to start four days ago.

A Lebanese woman gave birth to sextuplets – four girls and two boys – at the suburban Al-Hayat Hospital today.