Although Islamic State is losing fighters and territory in Iraq and Syria, it remained the world’s deadliest militant organization last year, according to a report from the University of Maryland. Islamic State operatives carried out more than 1,400 attacks last year and killed more than...

Iraqi forces closed in Monday on Tal Afar on the second day of an offensive against the last major bastion of Daesh (ISIS) in the country's north, after seizing several villages around the city. The offensive launched at dawn Sunday comes only weeks after Iraqi forces seized second city...

 German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticized Turkey's use of an Interpol arrest warrant to detain a German writer in Spain, telling an election town hall event on Sunday that this amounted to abuse of the international police agency. Dogan Akhanli was stopped in Spain on Saturday...

Iraq's Kurds may consider the possibility of postponing a planned Sept. 25 referendum on independence in return for financial and political concessions from the central government in Baghdad, a senior Kurdish official said. A Kurdish delegation is visiting Baghdad to sound out proposals from...