Syrian troops recapture Daesh-held airbase in east Aleppo

Palestine
has held municipal elections in the Israeli-occupied West Bank amid rising tensions between the ruling Fatah Party and the Hamas movement. 
Some 8 hundred-thousand voters are eligible to cast their ballots and elect 145 local councils. The election is deemed as a popularity test for the President of Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas who also heads the Ramallah-based Fatah Party. Meanwhile the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip is not hosting municipal polls. Hamas and Fatah movements have been trading blames over the past months for the vote not being held in the small coastal enclave. Hamas officials have also condemned the election, calling it a unilateral decision and accused the West Bank governors of cooperating with Israel.