Middle Orient

At least 25,000 Iraqi nationals who have fled from jihadist violence in their homeland are seeking refuge in Turkey, with the number of figures sharply increasing since July as hundreds of thousands of Iraqis suffer at the hands of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Sunni extremists from the Islamic State group today seized Iraq’s largest dam, placing them in control of enormous power and water resources and access to the river that runs through the heart of Baghdad. After a week of attempts, the armed gunmen successfully stormed the Mosul Dam and forced Kurdish forces …

Turkey is in talks with Israel and Egypt about establishing an air corridor to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza and evacuate potentially thousands of injured Palestinians for treatment in Turkey, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said on Aug. 6.

Iraq’s state TV says a government airstrike in the militant—held northern city of Mosul killed 60 fighters from the extremists Islamic State group. The TV says the strike at dawn on Wednesday targeted a prison in downtown Mosul used by the Islamic State as a religious court and detention facility.

Nineteen people were killed on Sunday and many injured in airstrikes by Syrian warplanes on the town of Kafr Batna, in the governorate of Rif Dimashq (the Countryside of Damascus), southern Syria, also a suburb of Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Two similar strikes targeted the city …

Despite criticism from Israel, Secretary of State John Kerry reiterated on Monday his desire for a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Gaza in order for the two sides to begin a process of negotiation. Before leaving for home, Kerry submitted to Israel on Friday a ceasefire proposal that …

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he and newly appointed Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura and deputy Ramzy Ezzedin Ramzy will work with the Syrian parties, regional and international stakeholders to identify “new elements” for a political process that will end the violence in Syria and facilitate a peaceful political …

Turkey is working with international partners to negotiate both a ceasefire in the Gaza conflict and access for humanitarian aid, the Turkish foreign minister said on Thursday.

Visiting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed here on Thursday the significance of creating a new Iraqi government as a gateway to rebuilding Iraq. Speaking at a short news conference following a just-one-hour meeting with top Shi’ite cleric Ayatollah Al-Sistani in Najaf for the first time, Ban said the formation of …

At least 11 people, including three children and a woman, were killed and eight others wounded when a mortar shell fell on a district of Aleppo city, north Syria, on Thursday. The area is controlled by the regular forces, according to a statement by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights …