Eurasia

Iraqi prime minister Haider Al Abadi has congratulated the military for an “overwhelming victory” against ISIL in Tal Afar, as an officer likened continuing fighting in a nearby town to opening “the gates of hell”. Mr Al Abadi is expected to announce the full liberation of Tal Afar from ISIL …

Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Wednesday announced his country’s “victory over terrorism” following a 10-day army campaign against Daesh terrorists holed up near the Syrian border. Earlier Wednesday, Lebanese Army Commander General Joseph Aoun (no relation) officially announced the successful completion of the Lebanese army’s Operation Fajr al-Juroud.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu participated on Friday in a Turkey, Romania and Poland trilateral meeting of foreign ministers in Poland along with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, where strengthening NATO’s role in the fight against terrorism was reportedly discussed. Çavuşoğlu visited Warsaw, Poland yesterday for talks and attended the …

Sameh Shoukry met with his Romanian counterpart Teodor Meleșcanu in Bucharest on Tuesday for wide-ranging talks, marking the final stage of the Egyptian minister’s European tour. Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry met with his Romanian counterpart Teodor Meleșcanu in the Romanian capital Bucharest on Tuesday, signing three memorandums …

Ghassan Salame, the United Nations Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), has announced a high level meeting chaired by UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres will take place next month following talks that Mr Salame is holding in the country this week.

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi chaired on Thursday the first meeting of the Supreme Council to Combat Terrorism and Extremism. El-Sisi called on the council to adopt a comprehensive national strategy to combat both domestic and international terrorism and extremism within a framework that covers the security, cultural, economic, social and …

The African Union’s multinational peacekeeping force in Somalia is shrinking slightly by the end of the year as it heads toward planned withdrawal from the country by 2020. The United Nations Security Council renewed the decade-old mission on Wednesday until the end of next May. The renewal makes some changes …

Pentagon chief Jim Mattis held talks with Turkish leaders in Ankara on Wednesday focusing on Washington’s arming of a Syrian Kurdish militia viewed as a terror group by Turkey, a move which has strained ties between the NATO allies. Mattis flew in for the one-day visit after stopping in Iraq …

Iraqi forces on Wednesday recaptured several districts and advanced towards the centre of Tal Afar, one of the Daesh group’s last strongholds in the country, as aid workers braced for an exodus of civilians fleeing the fighting. Armoured personnel carriers full of soldiers and fighters of the Hashed Al-Shaabi paramilitary …

Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi has urged Turkey to swiftly withdraw its military forces from his country’s northern territories. Al-Abadi made his remarks Wednesday while meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Baghdad.