British and US troops deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq face rising pressures on their mental health and family life, according to two investigations that shed light on a key aspect of military “overstretch”.

Iraqi politicians said on Thursday they were hoping for a breakthrough to restore a unity government after a Sunni Arab bloc quit, but the magnitude of the sectarian conflict was underlined by the slaying of five brothers.

Six months pregnant and exhausted, British mother Jessica Barhoum is still shocked that Israeli authorities ordered her, her husband and their baby out of bed at daybreak and pulverised their home.