The Iraqi military says ISIS has lost more than three-fourths of the territory it seized when it swept across the country in the summer of 2014. Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, a military spokesman, says the extremist group currently controls less than 30,000 square kilometers (12,000 sq. miles) in...

A strong blast rocked Turkey's largest Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir Tuesday near the riot police headquarters, just days before a key referendum on boosting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's powers. The blast could be heard in several areas of the southeastern city, an AFP journalist...

( The New Arab )- A rocket fired from the Sinai peninsula landed in southern Israel on Monday, with tensions high in the area following two deadly church bombings in Egypt. The rocket landed in the Eskhol regional council, causing no injuries or damage, Israel's army said. No group has...

Israel took the unusual step Monday of barring its citizens from crossing into Egypt's Sinai peninsula, saying the threat of attacks in the area inspired by ISIS and other extremist groups was high. Minutes after the ban was announced, the Israeli military said a rocket was launched from the...

IranAir may get its first new Boeing jetliner a year earlier than expected under a deal to take jets originally bought by cash-strapped Turkish Airlines, Iranian media and industry sources said. Iran had been expected to receive the first of 80 aircraft ordered from the U.S. planemaker in...

 Iran's President Hassan Rouhani defended his economic record in a press conference Monday but stopped short of formally announcing his candidacy for next month's presidential election. Rouhani pushed back against criticism from conservatives over his economic performance, saying there...

( Associated Press )- Christians in the Holy Land are celebrating Palm Sunday, the start of the Holy Week that leads up to Easter. Crowds of faithful gathered at Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the traditional site of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. Many waved palm fronds to...

( AFP )- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel remained committed to treating war wounded from Syria and reaffirmed his support for last week's US air strike in the neighboring country. In comments at the start of a cabinet meeting, Netanyahu did not specify whether those...

Islamic State militants launched two suicide attacks on U.S.-backed Syrian rebels near the border with Iraq, leaving at least 12 dead in the fighting and many wounded, rebels sources said on Sunday. They said eight Islamic State fighters and four of their own men died. An attack at...

( AFP )- Influential Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr Saturday called on Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down, also calling on Washington and Moscow to stop intervening in the conflict. The young Najaf-based Shiite cleric condemned the killing of 87 people, including 31 children, in a...

( Reuters )- The Turkish Red Crescent does not expect a fresh wave of Syrian refugees to head for Turkey after the chemical attack in the northwestern province of Idlib earlier this week, the humanitarian organization's head said on Saturday. Kerem Kinik also told Reuters that a new refugee...

( Reuters )- U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday assured Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi of continued U.S. support to defeat Islamic State, the Iraqi government said in a statement. The two discussed the situation in Syria and the war on Islamic State in a phone call from Pence...

( Associated Press )- Seven wounded Syrians __ two children, four women and a man __ waited in pain for darkness to fall to cross into enemy territory. Under the faint moonlight, Israeli military medical corps quickly whisked the patients across the hostile frontier into armored ambulances...

( The New Arab )- Israel put the Palestinian organisation, Hamas, on notice over unpaid fuel bills that could lead to roaming power cuts in the Gaza Strip. Hamas has allegedly not paid Israeli energy company, Dor, for the diesel it has already received to operate Gaza's only power plant and...

( Reuters )- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Saturday that "terrorists" were applauding his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump for launching a missile strike on an airbase of his Syrian government ally. But he backed calls for an independent inquiry into a suspected chemical weapons attack...

( Anadolu )- A devastated Syrian father whose twin babies were killed in Tuesday’s chemical attack in Idlib has described Turkey and its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as his only hope. Abdulhamid al-Youssef’s nine-month-old twins -- Aya and Ahmed, a little girl and boy -- have become...

( Anadolu )- President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Friday for further steps to be taken over the Syrian regime’s chemical attack on Idlib. Speaking at a rally in Turkey’s southern province of Hatay, Erdogan said it was the time to take “result-oriented steps to protect the people of...

( Reuters )- ISIS militants have killed dozens of civilians attempting to flee Mosul in recent days, hanging several dead bodies from electricity poles as Iraqi forces fight to retake the city, witnesses said. Troops are meeting fierce resistance as militants retreat into the Old City, where...

( AFP )- Saudi Arabia said Friday that it "fully backs" a U.S. airstrike on a Syrian government airbase in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town. "Saudi Arabia fully supports the U.S. military operations against military targets in Syria, which were a...

( Daily Star )- Two Iraqi army pilots were killed on Thursday when their helicopter was shot down over the city of Mosul by ISIS, according to a military statement. The helicopter was providing air support to Federal Police forces battling ISIS fighters on the western side of Mosul, the...