Several pro-Iranian parties promise to launch an appeal after early results show losses for parties with PMF links. Pro-Iranian parties and armed groups have denounced early results from Iraq’s elections as “manipulation” and a “scam”. Sunday’s parliamentary election – the fifth in the war-scarred country since the US-led invasion and …

At least four people were killed when a car bomb exploded in the Syrian city of Afrin on Monday, a medical source said, the latest such attack in the northwestern region that is controlled by Turkey and Syrian rebels it supports. The blast wounded another six people, the source said. …

Osman Touré was crying from the pain of repeated beatings and torture as he dialed his brother’s cellphone number. “I’m in prison in Libya,” Touré said in that August 2017 call. “They will kill me if you don’t pay 2,500 dinars in 24 hours.” Within days, Touré’s family transferred the …