(The Daily Star)- Iraqi forces said Sunday that they recaptured a series of villages surrounding jihadist-held Mosul as the operation to retake the city from the Islamic State group neared its third week. Tens of thousands of Iraqi troops and Kurdish peshmerga fighters have been advancing on...

Syrian rebels opened a new front in Aleppo as fighting spread on the third day of a major insurgent counter-attack to break the government's siege of the opposition-held part of the city, and each side accused the other using poison gas. The rebels, including both Free Syrian Army factions...

(The Guardian)- Islamic State’s doctrine of survival is based on a simple notion: defeat on the battlefield must always leave behind the seeds for a comeback. Whether the operation to retake Mosul will be the beginning of the end for Isis or the beginning of a new cycle hinges largely on...

Iraqi troops and security forces advanced towards Mosul from the south and southeast of the city on Sunday, Iraqi officials said, backed by air and ground support from a U.S.-led coalition as they edged closer to the Islamic State stronghold. A military statement said the army's ninth...