Lawyers for a Tufts University doctoral student from Turkey who was detained by immigration authorities have argued that her case should be handled by the federal court in Massachusetts

BOSTON (AP) — Lawyers for a Tufts University doctoral student from Turkey who was seized by immigration officials off a street near Boston argued in federal court Thursday that she should be returned to Massachusetts, while the U.S. government insisted it did nothing wrong in moving her to a detention center in Louisiana.

A federal judge in Boston overseeing the immigration case of Rümeysa Öztürk will hear from lawyers seeking to keep her in the US and from federal prosecutors working to deport the Tufts student to her native Turkey.

Israel stepped up airstrikes on Syria, declaring the attacks a warning to the new Islamist rulers in Damascus as it accused their ally Turkey on Thursday of trying to turn the country into a Turkish protectorate.

Syria has strongly condemned a fresh wave of Israeli strikes on airbases and other military sites overnight as an "unjustified escalation". The foreign ministry said the attacks almost destroyed Hama airbase and injured dozens of people.

Israeli strikes in Syria reportedly killed at least nine people in southwest Syria on Thursday. Syrian state news agency SANA said that those who died in the strikes were civilians,