BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq asked the U.S. to launch airstrikes to beat back militants holding vast territories across its north, a decision Washington mulled over as insurgents pressed an assault on the country's largest oil refinery. U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday briefed...

(AFP)- Chemical weapons such as chlorine have been used in a “systematic manner” in Syria, according to an initial report by a team from the world's watchdog investigating alleged attacks there . The report has not been publicly released, but...

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama considered options for military action to support Iraq's besieged government on Monday but made no decision on the U.S. response to a Sunni militant onslaught that has threatened to tear the country apart. Obama, who discussed the crisis...

BAGHDAD (AP) — Sunni militants captured a strategic northern Iraqi city along the highway to Syria on Monday, sending thousands of residents from an ethnic minority fleeing for safety and moving closer to their goal of linking areas under their control on both sides of the border....