The Syrian regime and Russian forces are facing a growing threat of the Islamic State, which continues to hold pockets across the desert in central Syria.

The US-led anti-IS coalition provided helicopter transport for the Iraqi raid in al-Rutba. Iraqi commandos killed a suspected Islamic State (IS) financier and captured an IS leader in an operation in western Anbar province on Monday, according to Iraq’s Defense Ministry.

The Afghan paramilitary group Fatemiyoun Division, which answers to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), held its first “international conference,” an ideological indoctrination gathering, on Aug. 13 at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, Iran.