The Iraqi air force carried out a series of airstrikes on Wednesday, targeting positions held by sleeper cells of the so-called Islamic State in Salahuddin province, a statement from the Iraqi military communications center said.

At least 21 people were killed in Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province as government forces and their Russian allies intensified an air offensive on the country’s northwest.

On Thursday, the French Consul General in Erbil affirmed his country’s ongoing support for the security of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq during a meeting with the head of the leading Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).