ISIS is forcibly gathering people in and around Mosul for possible use as human shields against advancing Iraqi forces, residents said Wednesday, confirming U.N. fears. ISIS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces have since regained significant ground,...

(The Daily Star)- A spokesman for a leading Shiite militia says its fighters have gained control of a highway linking the ISIS-held city of Mosul to the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the militants' self-proclaimed caliphate. The spokesman for the Hezbollah Brigades, Jaafar...

 (New York Times)- Russia said on Wednesday that it would extend a moratorium on airstrikes in the Syrian city of Aleppo until Friday to give embattled antigovernment rebels a chance to leave the city and to “avoid senseless victims” of continued fighting. Under terms of the cease-fire...

U.S.-backed Iraqi forces moved closer on Wednesday to a town south of Mosul where aid groups and regional officials say Islamic State has executed dozens of prisoners. A military statement said security forces advanced to the edge of Hammam al-Alil, a thermal water resort, after an elite...

Three Syrian regime soldiers fled the country and reached Turkey's southern frontier province of Hatay late on Tuesday, a security source said on Wednesday. Speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns, the source said the troops, who described themselves as "Assad's...

(Middle East Eye)- There have been two signs that Riyadh’s grip over its neighbourhood is loosening. The first was a long range missile which the Houthis fired at Jeddah airport, west of Mecca. The second was the election of Michel Aoun as Lebanese president, which was guaranteed by the...

(Daily Mail)- President Vladimir Putin has ordered a 10-hour truce on Friday in the war-ravaged Syrian city of Aleppo, the Russian defence ministry said. "A decision was made to introduce a 'humanitarian pause' in Aleppo on November 4 from 9:00 am (0600 GMT) to 19:00," the chief of Russia's...

Russia's Defense Ministry said Wednesday it would extend a moratorium on airstrikes on the Syrian city of Aleppo until 1900 on Nov. 4 by order of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kremlin spokesman said Tuesday that a temporary pause in Russian and Syrian government airstrikes on Aleppo was...

She sent just one text to her mother: “I am trapped in a house with Islamic State fighters. Do not call me.” Off and on for eight hours, Monaly Atalla and six college roommates hid under their beds in their darkened house as an elite cadre of Islamic State fighters came and went during a...

The Palestinian football chief told AFP Tuesday he would appeal to the world's top sports court if FIFA fails to punish Israel over clubs based in the occupied West Bank. At issue are six small-time Israeli football clubs which play in Jewish settlements that are considered illegal under...

(Vox)- The United States is actively participating in a brutal war in Yemen, providing valuable jet refueling capabilities and intelligence to the Saudi-led campaign against the Houthi rebel group that began in March of last year. Because of the US’s fairly limited direct combat role, the...

On a dusty plain south of Mosul, French artillery guns fire in support of Iraqi troops fighting to retake the city from the Islamic State group. The French operation -- dubbed "Task Force Wagram" -- is part of crucial backing provided by a US-led coalition to the Mosul offensive launched...

The prospect of a political process to establish peace in Syria has been postponed to an “uncertain period of time”, Russian defense minister said in Moscow Tuesday. According to a statement posted on the Ministry of Defense’s official website, Sergei Shoigu said: “Prospects of the start of...

(The Daily Star)- All sides fighting over the Syrian city of Aleppo may be committing war crimes through indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas, U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a regular U.N. briefing in Geneva on Tuesday. Last week insurgents launched an offensive...

Turkey’s army dispatched tanks to southeastern Sirnak province's Silopi district, a military source said Tuesday. According to the source, who asked to remain anonymous, the tanks were from the Ankara-based 28th Mechanized Infantry Brigade and will travel close to the Iraqi border. The...

Elite Iraqi forces were poised Tuesday for a first push into Mosul, after the prime minister warned jihadists who hold the city they have no choice but to surrender or die. Forces from Iraq's Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) were fighting IS in Gogjali, a village on the eastern edge of Mosul...

Turkish Armed Forces hit 120 Daesh and two PKK/PYD targets in northern Syria as part of Operation Euphrates Shield on Monday, said the army in a written statement on Tuesday. Turkey’s Operation Euphrates Shield was launched in late August to clear Syria's northern border area of terrorists....

(BBC)- The prime minister of Iraq has urged the Islamic State group to surrender as government troops close in on its last urban stronghold in the country, Mosul. Haider al-Abadi appeared on state TV wearing combat fatigues and said: "They have no choice. Either they surrender or they die."...

(The Guardian)- Eight civilians from one family, three of them children, were killed by a US airstrike on their home a few kilometres outside Mosul, relatives, officials and Kurdish troops fighting in the area say. The attack came after a week of heavy fighting in Fadhiliya village, where...

 Turkey wants the operation on Raqqa, ISIS' main stronghold in Syria, to start after Mosul and Euphrates Shield operations have been completed, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Monday. "Turkey's stance on the Raqqa operation is clear. It would be better both militarily and...