(Rudaw)- ISIS militants launched chemical weapons attacks on Qayyara in the weeks after Iraqi forces retook control of the town, a new report from Human Rights Watch confirmed.  The attacks, in September and October, “caused painful burns to at least seven people consistent with...

Headed for the front line near Syria's Raqa, 23-year-old Kurdish fighter Kaziwar has just one thought on her mind: to make her jihadist foes pay for their treatment of women. "Our taking part in the Women's Protection Units (YPJ) is revenge for the women who were kidnapped in Sinjar (in...

Iraqi security forces are preparing to advance toward Mosul airport on the city's southern edge to increase pressure on Islamic State militants fighting troops who breached their eastern defenses, officers said on Thursday. The rapid response forces, part of a coalition seeking to crush the...

(Bloomberg)- Saudi Arabian stocks extended their winning streak to six days, entering a bull market as investors bet the government’s belated payments to contractors would help spur more gains. The Tadawul All Share Index added 2.3 percent to the highest level since July, taking its rally...

Iraqi troops consolidated gains in their advance on the northern city of Mosul on Thursday, regrouping as they clear neighborhoods and houses once occupied by the Islamic State group. In Mosul proper, where troops have a foothold in a sliver of territory in the city's east, the special...

A commander of the YPG terrorist organization was killed late Wednesday in an attack in northern Syria, local sources said. Haji Kurkhan, codenamed “Ali Botan,” was responsible for the special units of the YPG terrorist organization – the military wing of the terrorist PKK/PYD. His car...

Israeli forces have sealed off the West Bank home of a Palestinian accused of helping plan an attack in Tel Aviv that left four Israelis dead, the Israeli army and residents said Thursday. The army said the home of Younes Zein, 22, in Yatta, south of the flashpoint city of Hebron, was sealed...

Iraqi government forces killed and tortured civilians south of Mosul, rights groups said on Thursday, the first such reports of alleged abuse in a U.S.-backed campaign to retake the city from Islamic State. Amnesty International said "up to six" people were found dead last month in the Shura...

Sixty-four civilians were killed and eight injured in 24 U.S. air strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria between Nov. 20, 2015, and Sept. 10, 2016, the U.S. military said in a statement on Wednesday. "In each of the cases released today, the assessment determined that...

An elite Yemeni force backed by Saudi-led coalition airstrikes killed 30 suspected Al-Qaeda fighters in the southeast of the country in a 24-hour operation that ended Wednesday, the army said. The force raided an Al-Qaeda hideout west of the port city of Mukalla Tuesday in a "very...

Israeli forces attacked a Syrian military position Wednesday, hours after a rocket from Syria hit the Israeli-held Golan Heights, the army said. "In response to the projectile which hit Israel earlier today, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) targeted an artillery position of the Syrian regime...

Iraqi Kurdish forces have seized the town of Bashiqa near Mosul from ISIS, an official said Tuesday, as U.S.-backed militia forces advanced on the extremists' Syrian stronghold Raqqa. Capturing Bashiqa would be a final step in securing the eastern approaches to Mosul, three weeks into an...

 The Russian naval group in the Mediterranean, headed by the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, is preparing an offensive against rebels on the besieged neighborhoods of Aleppo city, according to reports citing a source in the Defense Ministry. Jets from the Admiral Kuznetsov, the Peter...

When Saada al-Aboud saw Islamic State fighters bringing weaponry into her village near their Syrian bastion of Raqa, she feared she and her family would become human shields for the jihadists. "Daesh fighters brought heavy weapons to our village and stayed among us so that if there were...

Iraqi investigators carried out an initial examination on Tuesday of a mass grave site discovered in an area south of Mosul that was recently retaken from the Islamic State group. Iraqi security forces announced the discovery of the site in the Hamam al-Alil area the day before, after...

Islamic State fighters have forced thousands of civilians to retreat with them from Hamam al-Alil as Iraqi police were recapturing the town, and moved them towards Mosul airport, the UN said on Tuesday. Iraqi forces retook the key town from the extremists on Monday, in a major win in its...

Islamic State fighters abducted 295 former Iraqi Security Forces members near the militant stronghold of Mosul and also forced 1,500 families to retreat with them from Hammam al Alil town, the United Nations human rights organization said on Tuesday. The abductions took place last week as...

(The Daily Star)- Yemeni troops backed by a Saudi-led coalition airstrike killed six suspected Al-Qaeda fighters outside the southeastern port city of Mukalla Tuesday, a security official said. Mukalla was the most populous Yemeni city under Al-Qaeda control until government troops and...

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu accused Berlin on Tuesday of allowing the Kurdish militant PKK and far-leftist DHKP-C, both of which have carried out armed attacks in Turkey, to operate on German soil with impunity. "The DHKP-C and PKK are carrying out activities in Germany, but...

(Daily Star)- Turkey wants to ensure that the "wrong groups" do not take part in the operation to push Islamic State from the Syrian city of Raqqa and the offensive is weeks away from starting, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday. Cavusoglu told a news conference that the...