Syrian security forces on Friday launched a major operation against Qardaha, the hometown of former President Bashar al-Assad, a war monitor reported.

The operation, which saw the forces deploying tanks and armoured vehicles, followed their recent takeover of Baniyas, a strategic coastal city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said.

It came as Anas Hasan Khattab, head of Syria's General Intelligence Service, accused on social media former military and security officials from al-Assad's regime of directing attacks against Syria from abroad.

The SOHR reported earlier in the day that forces from the defense and interior ministries combed Baniyas and its surroundings, employing heavy artillery and machine guns.

It added that reinforcements continue to pour into coastal regions, suggesting a prolonged military campaign.

Nepal has sought India's financial, economic, technical inputs and suggestions on the viability of the 141km Raxaul-Kathmandu railway line that aims at establishing a direct link between the Indian border city and the Nepalese capital.

India and Nepal had recently held the 9th Project Steering Committee (PSC) and the 7th Joint Working Group (JWG) meetings on February 27-28 in New Delhi to review the implementation of ongoing cross-border railway links and overall bilateral cooperation in the railway sector.

Sushil Babu Dhakal, Joint Secretary at Nepal's Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transportation, who had led the visiting delegation at the meetings, told local media in Kathmandu on Friday that Nepal has now sought Indian perspective on the project's viability citing concerns over low financial return and the suggested 25-year payback period.

"We are in a nascent phase in building the railway and we have little understanding of it... On the other hand, we are also building an expressway to link Kathmandu with the southern plains, so in this context, we have asked the Indian side for technical insights," Dhakal told Nepal's leading daily, The Kathmandu Post.

The South Korean defence ministry said on Friday that a total of 29 people, including 15 civilians, have been injured from an accidental fighter jet bombing of a northern village earlier this week.

On Thursday, two KF-16 fighter jets "abnormally" dropped eight MK-82 bombs outside a training range in Pocheon, some 40 kilometres north of Seoul, during live-fire drills, leading to multiple injuries and damage to buildings.

As of Friday, 15 civilians and 14 service members were injured from the bombing, including six foreigners, the ministry said, up from 15 tallied the previous day. Of them, two South Korean civilians were seriously injured.

A South Korean court ordered impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol to be released from custody on Friday after accepting his request to cancel his arrest over his short-lived imposition of martial law.

Yoon has been held at a detention centre in Uiwang, just south of Seoul, since investigators detained him and brought him there on January 15 on charges of inciting an insurrection through his December 3 declaration of martial law.

With his release, Yoon will be able to stand trial without physical detention.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX lost contact with its spacecraft shortly after the launch of the eighth test flight of its giant Starship rocket on Friday.

The eighth test was launched at its Starbase site in South Texas at 6:30 p.m. EST on Thursday (5:00 am Friday IST).

About seven minutes after liftoff, Starship's giant first-stage booster, known as Super Heavy was caught by the Starbase's launch tower, using the structure's "chopstick" arms, called "Mechazilla," on the launch tower.

“Mechazilla has caught the Super Heavy booster!” Musk shared in a post on social media platform X. However, the Starship spacecraft lost altitude control and lost communication with the ground.

“Prior to the end of the ascent burn, an energetic event in the aft portion of Starship resulted in the loss of several Raptor engines. This, in turn, led to a loss of attitude control and ultimately a loss of communications with Starship,” SpaceX said in a blog post.

South Korean steel companies said on Friday they will closely cooperate with the government and related agencies to minimise the impact of planned U.S. tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports from next week.

U.S. President Donald Trump has announced a series of levies on some of his country's trading partners, including Canada and Mexico, since taking office in January, reports news agency.

Among them are 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from March 12 (US time). In late February, South Korean officials requested an exemption from the tariffs on steel and aluminum during their visit to Washington, but to no apparent avail.

Seoul's responses to the Trump government's latest tariff plans have been affected by a political turmoil sparked by President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived martial law imposition in December.

The government will come up with measures next month to respond to the United States' plan to impose tariffs on auto imports, the industry ministry said on Friday, as the new U.S. tariffs are expected to deal a severe blow to the South Korean automotive industry.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced the move at a meeting with officials from automakers, including local industry leader Hyundai Motor Co. and GM Korea Co., the South Korean unit of General Motors Co., according to ministry officials, reports news agency.

In the meeting, attendees assessed that the proposed U.S. tariffs on auto imports will likely slow down South Korea's exports to the U.S., also adversely affecting the local auto-parts making industry, the ministry said.

The Korean automakers urged the government to emphasise the contributions they have made to the U.S. economy through massive investments there, calling for comprehensive efforts to respond to Washington's tariff scheme.

Australia's New South Wales (NSW) State Emergency Service issued emergency evacuation warnings on Thursday as tropical cyclone Alfred edges closer to the country's east coast.

Residents in the Northern Rivers region in northeastern NSW were urged to evacuate by 9 p.m. local time on Thursday, as rapid river rises and heavy rainfall are expected to cause widespread flooding across local catchments, and fallen trees may potentially block safe evacuation routes.

"If you remain in the area, you may become trapped without power, water, and other essential services," said NSW State Emergency Service State Duty Commander, Assistant Commissioner Nicole Hogan.

Pilot error is suspected to have caused an accidental fighter jet bombing of a civilian area in a border city Thursday in an unprecedented accident that left at least 15 people injured in South Korea, military officials said.

Two KF-16 fighter jets 'abnormally' dropped four MK-82 air-to-surface bombs each outside a training ground in Pocheon, some 40 kilometers north of Seoul, at 10:04 a.m., while taking part in joint live-fire drills with US troops, according to the officials.

An Air Force official told reporters an initial investigation found that one of the pilots of the single-seat jets wrongly entered the coordinates for the strike target prior to take-off, leading to the accidental bombing.

Due to the apparent mistake, the bombs were dropped over a village about 8 kilometres away from the target at the training ground, leaving two with serious injuries and damaging eight buildings.

Fifteen people in South Korea were injured on Thursday after two Air Force KF-16 fighter jets mistakenly dropped eight air-to-surface bombs outside a training range during live-fire drills, military officials and fire authorities said, in an unprecedented mistaken bombing on a civilian town.

Authorities said the bombing took place over a village in Pocheon, some 40 kilometres north of Seoul, at around 10 a.m., leaving 15 people, including two soldiers and two foreigners, with minor to serious injuries and damaging a church and seven other buildings.

Fire authorities said two male civilians have been seriously injured and taken to the hospital but noted their injuries to the face and shoulder are not life-threatening. Eight others with minor injuries have also been moved to hospitals for treatment.