Middle Orient

Up to 11 Islamic State for Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters were killed during recent air attacks in eastern Nangarhar province. The ISIS fighters targeted in their hideouts this morning in Acheen, Roudat and Koot districts of the province.

The U.S. Army announced Thursday that 2,100 soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) will deploy to Iraq this fall. The soldiers from 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, based in at Fort Polk in Louisiana will replace the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, in a regular rotation …

India is likely to seek from Baghdad the latest information on the fate of 39 Indians missing in Iraq for the last three years when Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari pays his first official visit to India from 24 July. These Indians, mostly from Punjab, were abducted by ISIS militants …

Three senior Islamic State leaders were killed in Tal Afar town, west of Mosul, the Shia-led paramilitary troops said on Friday. A statement by Saraya al-Jihad militia, affiliated to al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units) said troops “identified the bodies of IS members, who were killed on Thursday while infiltrating behind …

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi inaugurated on Saturday the largest military base of the Middle East in the coastal city of Alexandria. The president raised the Armed Forces flag on the new base in el Hammam city, west of Alexandria. The military base was named after late president Mohamed Naguib, …

The US State Department on Wednesday released the Country Reports on Terrorism 2016, where it highlighted the UAE’s increased counterterrorism efforts. “The nation increased its counter-terrorism prosecutions in the last year, with the Federal Supreme Court’s State Security Court hearing more than three dozen separate terrorism-related cases,” it said.

Iraqi forces on Thursday regained control over Imam Gharbi, a village south of Mosul, from Daesh militants who had seized it as their defence of their stronghold in the city crumbled, Iraqi police said. The action formed part of the next phase of the US-backed government’s campaign to drive Daesh …

EU High Representative Federica Mogherini met with the Lebanese foreign minister Affairs Gebran Bassil Tuesday and discussed the Syrian crisis and its consequences on Lebanon. “We discussed in particular the Syrian crisis, the impact in Lebanon; We continue to be on the same side here agreeing that only a political …

The European Union (EU) announced on Wednesday that it will provide 1.5 million euro (USD 1.7 mn) to support the International Independent Mechanism to Facilitate Investigations into the Most Serious Violations of International Law committed in Syria since March 2011. “Achieving justice for the victims is essential for a genuine …

A total of 47 Islamic State (IS) militants were killed on Monday in Iraqi airstrikes in and near the IS-held town of Tal Afar in west of Mosul, the Iraqi military said. Iraqi jets conducted airstrikes on an IS post in the IS-held town of Mahalabiyah near the IS stronghold …