Iraqi forces retook the provincial government headquarters and a second bridgehead on the River Tigris in west Mosul on Tuesday, the third day of a new drive against the Islamic State group. The operation to retake west Mosul -- IS's largest remaining urban stronghold -- was launched on...

(Middle East Eye)- Illuminated by thin beams of light from soldiers' head torches and mobile phones, the climbing apparatus throws eerie shadows across the walls of the disused railway tunnel. For almost three years, the high-roofed tunnel served as the Islamic State's training camp for its...

Elite Iraqi security forces dislodged Islamic State militants from the main government buildings in Mosul on Tuesday, their last major city stronghold in Iraq, an Iraqi spokesman said. Mosul's main museum, which was damaged and looted by the militants, was also taken, Lieutenant Colonel...

Turkey will allow the family of a Syrian air force pilot whose warplane crashed on Turkish territory to visit him at the hospital where he is being treated, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told A Haber broadcaster on Monday. Turkey has been one of the leading critics of Syrian President...

At least 22 Shiite Huthi rebels were killed Monday in an airstrike by pro-government Arab coalition warplanes as well as clashes in western Yemen, officials said. The strike on a military base in the city of Bajil, northeast of provincial capital Hodeida on the Red Sea, killed 16 rebels,...

Israeli police grilled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his official Jerusalem home on Monday in a long-running investigation into corruption suspicions, local media said. "The fourth round of questioning of PM Netanyahu has begun at his residence," Israel Hayom daily, considered close...

Turkey is infringing the judicial independence of a United Nations war crimes tribunal by holding one of its judges in detention despite an order to release him, the court ruled Monday, referring the matter to the U.N. Security Council. The U.N. court had earlier ordered Ankara to release...

U.S.-backed Iraqi forces on Monday captured Mosul's al-Hurriya bridge, which leads to the ISIS-held old city center from the south, a military media officer told Reuters. The al-Hurriya bridge is the second to be secured by the Iraqi forces in the city, after securing one located further...

An operation was launched Sunday against PKK terrorists in 18 villages of Diyarbakir province's Lice district of southeastern Turkey, security sources said. The operation was carried out in Lice district’s mountainous and forest areas in order to neutralize PKK terrorists, including its...

The United States on Sunday launched a new wave of air raids against Al-Qaeda in Yemen, as extremists fled from towns being targeted to mountainous areas, security sources said. At least five early morning raids hit targets linked to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in the southern...

 Iran's hardline former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became the latest leader to join Twitter on Sunday, despite having been instrumental in getting it banned from the country. Ahmadinejad's first tweet from his personal account was a video in which he called on people to follow him at...

Tens of thousands of civilians have fled offensives against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, where the extremists are battling to keep what remains of their territory, the UN said Sunday. ISIS overran large areas of both countries in 2014, declaring a "caliphate" in territory it controlled, but the...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin this week in Moscow to press for a limit to Iran's influence in Syria. Israel is deeply concerned over whether Syria's civil war will result in its arch-foe Iran having increased its power in...

Iran said on Sunday there had been progress in talks with Saudi Arabia on allowing citizens of the Islamic republic to join this year's hajj pilgrimage, despite some remaining issues. Iranians were barred from attending last year's hajj after the two countries severed diplomatic ties and...

Bahrain on Sunday approved a constitutional change allowing military courts to try civilians, the kingdom's latest rollback on reforms made after its 2011 Arab Spring protests that likely will stoke an ongoing government crackdown on dissent. Activists warn the amendment will allow an...

(Daily Sabah)- A total of 11 PKK terrorists have been killed in airstrikes conducted in northern Iraq, the Turkish military announced on Sunday. The statement released by the military said that the airstrikes carried out by Turkish jets on February 28 between 7:33 p.m. and 8:28 p.m. local...

An Iraqi minister Saturday sharply criticized U.N. efforts to aid civilians fleeing fighting in west Mosul, even as the United Nations insisted that providing such assistance was the "top priority". Tens of thousands of people have fled west Mosul since Iraqi forces launched an operation to...

Twelve people, including women and children, are being treated for possible exposure to chemical weapons agents in Mosul, where ISIS is fighting off an offensive by U.S.-backed Iraqi forces, the United Nations said Saturday. The U.N.'s World Health Organization has activated with partners...

Jordan hanged 15 death row prisoners at dawn Saturday, its information minister said, in a further break with the moratorium on executions it had observed between 2006 and 2014. Ten of those put to death had been convicted of terrorism offences and five of "heinous" crimes including rape,...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday accused Germany of "aiding and harboring terror" and claimed a journalist who was detained this week on terror-related charges was a German agent. "They need to be put on trial for aiding and harboring terror," Erdogan said, criticizing German...