Middle Orient

Minutes after the younger brother of Afghanistan’s Taliban chief rose to lead Friday prayers at a Pakistan mosque last month, a bomb ripped through the building.

The Trump administration intensified its focus on Iran Sunday as the likely culprit behind attacks on important Saudi Arabian oil facilities over the weekend, with officials citing intelligence assessments to support the accusation and President Trump warning that he was prepared to take military action.

Warplanes have struck positions of Iran-backed militias near Syria’s border with Iraq, activists say.

The war between Israel and the Iranian-controlled Hezbollah terrorist network is continuous. It has flared into major conflicts several times since 1982.

Tension in the border area with the Gaza Strip was caused by a drone operation carried out by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an Israeli army spokesman said on Sunday.

Iraqi forces on Thursday killed five Islamic State (IS) militants in an operation and an airstrike in the central province of Salahudin, a military statement and a police source said.

A senior U.S. diplomatic official reportedly said Thursday the U.S. is negotiating with the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels an in effort to end the Yemeni Civil War.

The People’s Protection Units (YPG) Counter-Terrorist Forces on Sunday captured a so-called Islamic State financial officer during an operation in Syria.

Government airstrikes and artillery attacks ceased Saturday following a unilateral cease-fire in the northwestern province of Idlib, a Syrian war monitor said. The U.S. military, meanwhile, said it struck an al-Qaida leadership facility north of Idlib, marking the first American strike inside the war-torn country since July .

The American military conducted an airstrike against al Qaeda in Syria (AQ-S) “leadership at a facility north of Idlib, Syria” earlier today, according to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). It is the second time the U.S. has struck al Qaeda operatives in Syria since late June.