Middle Orient

Iraq on Monday launched the third phase of a military operation in the north to combat ISIS sleeper cells as US-led coalition forces begin to withdraw.

The US State Department is denying any deal-making or “good-will diplomacy” was behind the impending release of Kassim Tajideen, a Lebanese-Belgian businessman and convicted financier of the militant organisation Hezbollah.

Jamal Zeina split from group once known as Nusra Front earlier this year to set up a new hardline organization.

The U.S. military’s Central Command says three known Islamic State hiding places have been destroyed in rural Iraq.

During a June 17 speech eulogizing former Palestinian Islamic Jihad Secretary-General Ramadan Shalah and Hezbollah commander Hajj Abu Ali Farhat, Hassan Nasrallah called for a realignment with China in an attempt to end Lebanon’s dependence on western aid during its economic crises.

Turkey said Wednesday it has airlifted troops into northern Iraq for a cross-border ground operation against Turkey’s Kurdish rebels.

Anti-government protesters took to the streets in multiple Lebanese urban centers on Thursday, setting up burning barricades and forcing road closures as the country’s currency fell rapidly.

In a recently published video, the Iranian-backed front League of the Revolutionaries (LoR) claimed responsibility for recent attacks including the crash of an American C-130 military cargo plane and several rocket attacks against American-led coalition bases in Iraq.

Two al Qaeda leaders were reportedly killed in a drone strike in Syria’s Idlib province earlier today, according to jihadists on social media. Pictures of the car carrying them were posted on Telegram and other messaging applications.

Looming U.S. legislation that imposes stringent sanctions on the Syrian government has raised concerns among the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), with Kurdish officials warning that including northeast Syria region in the sanctions could hinder their fight against the Islamic State (IS) terror group.