Jets and helicopters from the Syrian regime fired rockets into northern Lebanon for the first time, AFP reported March 18, citing a statement from a U.S. State Department spokeswoman.

Iran launched a domestically built guided missile destroyer, Jamaran-2, in the Caspian Sea port city of Anzali on March 17, AP reported, citing state television.

North Korea test-fired two short-range missiles sometime during the week of March 10, a South Korean official said March 16, AP reported.

Myanmar's government released a five-point joint statement with the Kachin Independence Organization after the second round of political talks between the two sides in Ruili, Xinhua reported March 12.

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit ordered the army to pull out of a buffer zone area on the border with Sudan, an army spokesman said March 11, Reuters reported.

Chinese authorities plan to merge China's maritime law enforcement agencies under a single administration, a lawmaker said March 10, Xinhua reported March 11.

The Afghan Taliban and the United States have been holding secret talks in Qatar on a daily basis, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said March 10, Reuters and Xinhua reported.

Islamists in northern Mali killed four residents of the city of Tonka, which is southwest of Timbuktu, during an apparent carjacking, Tonka Mayor Mamady Konipo, IOL News reported March 8.