In Syria, tens of thousands of people have gathered at the Great Mosque of Damascus and other cities for the first Friday prayers since longtime authoritarian President Bashar al-Assad was toppled by opposition fighters.

The World Food Programme is appealing to donors to help it scale up relief operations for some 2.8 million displaced and food-insecure people across Syria. That includes more than 1.1 million people uprooted by fighting since late November.