Washington is in "close contact" with Ankara over the assault launched by American-backed Kurdish-Arab forces on the Islamic State group's bastion Raqa in Syria, a senior US official said Sunday. "We are in close close contact with our Turkish allies and that is why the chairman of joint...

(BBC)- A US-backed Kurdish and Arab force says it has begun an operation to capture Raqqa, so-called Islamic State's "capital" in Syria. The Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) will be aided by US-led coalition air strikes. They have warned civilians to steer clear of areas where IS militants are...

(Independent)- President Bashar al-Assad laughed and said he sleeps fine when he was asked during an interview about all the children killed every day in Syria. Mr Assad also said the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians is “the fault of terrorists” and said “we are talking...

Every shot sent shock waves all around and left ears ringing: the tanks of the Iraqi army's 9th armoured division were advancing through the streets of Mosul's Intisar neighbourhood. When Iraqi forces finally punched into the streets of Mosul in the past few day, the three-week-old offensive...