Pentagon chief Jim Mattis held talks with Turkish leaders in Ankara on Wednesday focusing on Washington’s arming of a Syrian Kurdish militia viewed as a terror group by Turkey, a move which has strained ties between the NATO allies. Mattis flew in for the one-day visit after stopping in Iraq …

Iraqi forces on Wednesday recaptured several districts and advanced towards the centre of Tal Afar, one of the Daesh group’s last strongholds in the country, as aid workers braced for an exodus of civilians fleeing the fighting. Armoured personnel carriers full of soldiers and fighters of the Hashed Al-Shaabi paramilitary …

Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi has urged Turkey to swiftly withdraw its military forces from his country’s northern territories. Al-Abadi made his remarks Wednesday while meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Baghdad.