Syrian opposition activists said insurgents have captured a main border crossing with Jordan forcing Syrian authorities to leave it.

Shortly afterward, Jordan’s Interior Minister al-Frayeh said the Naseeb border crossing with Syria had been closed because of the security situation on the Syrian side.

Gaza's civil defense agency said 29 people were killed on Friday in Israeli strikes near the Kamal Adwan hospital in the northern Gaza city of Beit Lahia, where Israel is pressing a major offensive.

"At least 29 people were killed and dozens were wounded in the northern Gaza Strip since dawn on Friday as a result of the continuing Israeli shelling around Kamal Adwan hospital," said civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal.

A war monitor said Syrian government troops pulled out of the central city of Homs on Friday in the face of an Islamist-led rebel offensive, but the defense ministry denied the report.

"Syrian soldiers have withdrawn from Homs city towards its outskirts," said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor. The ministry later said "there is no truth to news... about the army withdrawing from Homs".

The Israeli military said Friday it was "reinforcing aerial and ground forces" in the occupied Golan Heights in response to sweeping Islamist-led rebel advances in Syria.

In a statement, the military said it was "monitoring developments and is prepared for all scenarios, offensive and defensive alike", adding that it "will not tolerate any threat near the Israeli border".

The commander of a Kurdish-led force in Syria said Friday he was open to talks with Turkey and Islamist-led rebels, whose offensive had created a "new political and military reality".

"We want to de-escalate with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and other parties and to solve our problems through dialogue" including with Turkey, Mazloum Abdi, who heads the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that controls swathes of northeast Syria, told reporters. "We were surprised to see the sudden and rapid collapse of Syrian government forces on the frontlines as factions took control of large areas, imposing a new political and military reality," he added.

Syrian troops and their Iran-backed allies "suddenly" pulled out of eastern Deir Ezzor city and its surroundings Friday, a war monitor said, as a rebel offensive dealt the government a series of stunning blows.

"Syrian regime forces and commanders of Iran-backed allied groups suddenly withdrew from Deir Ezzor city and its countryside with columns of soldiers heading towards central Syria," Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, told AFP.

Israel’s army said Friday it had conducted air strikes on Hezbollah "weapon-smuggling routes" on the Syria-Lebanon border, just over a week into a fragile ceasefire in Lebanon.

The Israeli air force "conducted strikes on weapon-smuggling routes and terror infrastructure sites located near the Syrian regime’s crossings at the Syrian-Lebanese border", the military said in a statement that included a map identifying the crossing as Al-Arida.

The leader of an Islamist rebel alliance driving a lightning offensive in Syria has said the goal of the campaign is to overthrow the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

"When we talk about objectives, the goal of the revolution remains the overthrow of this regime. It is our right to use all available means to achieve that goal," Abu Mohammed al-Jolani told CNN in an interview published Friday.

Syrian rebel chief Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, whose fighters have launched a lightning offensive, on Thursday urged Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani of neighboring Iraq to keep his country distant from Syria's war.

Qatar has resumed its role as a mediator in efforts to secure a truce in the Israel-Hamas war following a brief suspension, a source with knowledge of the talks said Thursday.

The Gulf emirate, along with the United States and Egypt, had been involved in months of unsuccessful negotiations for a Gaza truce and hostage release after nearly 14 months of war.