Islamic State militants have set off five car bombs targeting U.S.-backed Syrian armed groups attacking Raqqa, a Kurdish source said on Monday, saying the fight to drive IS from its stronghold city would "not be easy". The operation by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), including the...

Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces attacked an ISIS-held town northeast of Mosul Monday, trying to clear a pocket of militants outside the city while Iraqi troops wage a fierce urban war with the extremists in its eastern neighborhoods. The first waves of a 2,000-strong peshmerga force entered...

Hundreds of families have been driven out of the Iraqi city of Kirkuk in apparent retaliation for a recent attack by ISIS, Amnesty International said Monday. Authorities in the Kurdish-controlled city demolished the homes of hundreds of Arab residents and ordered them to leave Kirkuk in the...

(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...