Opposition fighters have launched a fierce assault on Syrian government intelligence headquarters in Aleppo on Wednesday, with at least 34 people dead from both warring sides.

Opposition fighters linked to the Al Nusra Front and other Islamist organisations detonated a bomb placed in a tunnel running underneath the headquarters, with the blast being heard throughout Aleppo. The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) reported a 2.3-magnitude tremor at the time of the explosion.

The Iraqi army and Shi'ite militiamen have been engaged in fierce battles with Islamic State (IS) fighters in Tikrit, as they attempted to recapture the Iraqi city.

Whilst US airstrikes have not been reported to have been deployed, the Iraqi air force conducted several strikes since the offensive was launched on Sunday.

Reuters reported that Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani was at the battlefront. The commander had been assisting to co-ordinate Iraqi counter-offensives against IS, but Moeen al-Kadhimi, a leader of the Shi’ite militia known as the Popular Mobilisation force, told the BBC that the role he was playing was minimal.

“We receive our orders and instructions from the Iraqi military leadership, but we make use of the advice of the foreign advisers," said Mr Kadhimi.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on Afghanistan to hold officials and commanders guilty of human rights abuses accountable, in a report detailing police, intelligence, and militia forces' responsibility for rights violations.

In a report entitled, “‘Today We Shall All Die’: Afghanistan’s Strongmen and the Legacy of Impunity”, HRW said there was long standing impunity for rights abuses committed by figures connected to the Afghan government.

Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director at HRW, said,

“The previous Afghan government and the United States enabled powerful and abusive individuals and their forces to commit atrocities for too long without being held to account.”

Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that a deal with Iran over a nuclear programme would see Iran "pave its way to the bomb", in a controversial speech to the United States Congress.

Mr Netanyahu said a deal would Iran would “inevitably lead to a nuclear armed Iran whose unbridled aggression will inevitably lead to a nuclear war”, adding that "Iran's regime is as radical as ever, the ideology is deeply rooted in militant Islam... it will always be an enemy of US".

The speech was criticised by US President Barack Obama who said that Mr Netanyahu had offered “nothing new” to progress towards containing Iran’s nuclear programme.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al Hussain stressed that international human rights law cannot be "trifled with or circumvented, but must be fully observed", at the opening of the 28th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

"Our discussions during this session will only be of some worth if every State represented here will take the recommendations of the Council, its Universal Periodic Review, and its expert mechanisms out of this room, and give them real impact where it matters – in your countries," he said in his first address since taking over from Navanetham Pillay last year.

Mr Hussain pointed out human rights are disregarded, and violated regularly by some states, who claim exceptional circumstances, picking and choosing between which rights to protect.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said he warned Russia that it would face further sanctions if the conditions of the truce agreed in Ukraine last month were not met.

Speaking at the opening session of the Human Rights Council, Mr Kerry said the pro-Russian forces had a "piece-meal" approach to the ceasefire agreement, accusing them of only withdrawing heavy weapons from the front line in some areas.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in his address to the Council, said there had been "tangible process" with the ceasefire.

The North Korea regime has fired two missiles as the annual US-South Korea drills began earlier today.

Officials in Seoul said two short-range missiles were fired into the ocean east of Korea, assumed to be in reaction to the joint drills.

While both the US and South Korea describe the drills as defensive, Pyongyang says they are a rehearsal for an invasion.

"If North Korea takes provocative actions, our military will react firmly and strongly so North Korea will regret it in its bones," Defence Minister Kim Min-seok said according to Reuters.

The Venezuelan government announced it will limit the number of US diplomats in the country.

President Nicolas Maduro said he wants a review and reduction of diplomatic staff and said some US politicians would be banned from entering Venezuela.

The president said he was forced to take these measures as the US government was meddling in the country and had 100 employees working in Venezuela, while only 17 Venezuelan officials were working in the US.

The US is seeking to deport at least 150 Bosnians suspected of commiting war crimes and "ethnic cleansing" during the Yugoslavian war, the New York Times reported.

Immigration officials said they have identified 300 immigrants who are believed to have concealed involvement in war times atrocities.

Moves have been made to identify suspects, including an appeal broadcast to Bosnians around the world in February, urging witnesses to come forward with any information about war crimes.

Bosnians should be confident that “justice can be served in the United States despite the fact that many years have gone by and that the conduct occurred overseas, far away,” Kathleen O’Connor, a human rights prosecutor at the Justice Department, said in a message translated into Bosnian on the government-financed Voice of America network.

A retired army general and former Peruvian minister has been accused of murdering a journalist 26 years ago and could be facing a fail term, according to a prosecutor.

Daniel Urresti, a former army general, widely tipped as a possible presidential candidate, is accused of orchestrating the murder of Hugo Bustios, a journalist who had been investigating human rights abuses, during the country’s conflict involving leftist militant organisation Shining Path.

Two former soldiers were convicted of his murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison. One of them accused Mr Urresti of being involved in the killing.