Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday called on Iraqi forces to allow aid to enter the Islamic State-held city of Falluja where it said tens of thousands of residents face acute shortages of food and medicine. The Iraqi army, police and Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias - backed by...

An Iranian delegation will meet Saudi officials next week to discuss arrangements for this year's hajj pilgrimage, the first dialogue between the rival powers since a diplomatic crisis erupted in January. Riyadh severed diplomatic ties with Iran on Jan. 3, a day after its missions in Tehran...

Ali Allawi, whom Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi nominated last week to serve as finance minister in a new technocratic government, withdrew his candidacy on Wednesday, citing "political interventions and partisan bickering". Allawi is at least the second ministerial...

One Turkish soldier was lightly wounded on Tuesday after a military outpost in the southeastern province of Gaziantep came under fire from Islamic State militants from across the Syrian border, privately owned Dogan News agency said. Turkey's military responded in kind and fired...