Middle Orient

More than 23,000 refugees fleeing fighting in northern Syria have crossed into Turkey, the United Nations refugee agency said on June 16, quoting Turkish authorities. Syrian Kurdish-led forces said they had captured a town at the Turkish border from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on June 15, …

Seventeen people were killed in Iraq on June 15 in clashes between Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants and pro-government forces in a town close to the country’s biggest refinery, a focal point in efforts to counter the ultra-hardline Sunni group.

US President Barack Obama is sending 450 additional US troops to help Iraqi forces seize back control of the western city of Ramadi from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadists. Of the 450 troops heading to Anbar province within six to eight weeks, less than 100 …

US President Barack Obama on June 10 approved the deployment of 450 more US military trainers to Iraq, a cautious bid to reverse gains by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group. The White House said the forces will join an already 3,100-strong mission to “train, advise …

Three militants disguised in military uniform killed at least eight people in a local government office in Amiriyat al-Falluja in western Iraq on June 9, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

At least 49 civilians, including children, were killed by warplanes of the Syrian regime at an area in Idlib in northwestern Syria, a monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that the regime aircraft committed a “massacre” by bombarding a public yard in Al-Janodia village in …

The White House says President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande are in agreement on some of the world’s vexing problems, including Russia’s actions in Ukraine and keeping Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The two leaders met June 8 on the sidelines of a summit of the Group of …

Kurdish forces have driven the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group from more than a dozen Assyrian Christian villages that the jihadists had captured in northeastern Syria, a monitor said May 27. “Following a 10-day offensive, Kurdish fighters took control early this week of 14 Assyrian villages …

US Vice President Joseph Biden has pledged “full support” for Iraqi efforts to retake territories lost to the Islamic State, as Baghdad bristled at the Pentagon chief’s criticism of Iraqi forces over the battle against the extremist group.

Some 123 U.S. soldiers arrived in Turkey for training of moderate Syrian opposition, along with weapons that are being transferred to İncirlik Airbase for equipping part of the program. Syrians, who will be trained in Hirfanlı military base in Kırşehir, will be transferred to southern Hatay where they will be …