Middle Orient News

US Defence Secretary and Pentagon chief Ashton Carter said on Wednesday that the fight against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group may take longer than the three year timeline stipulated in President Barack Obama’s force authorisation request. “I cannot tell you that our campaign to defeat ISIL (IS) would be …

Secretary of State John Kerry urged lawmakers Wednesday to give President Barack Obama updated war powers to go after Islamic jihadists at “a pivotal hour” in the battle against the militants. “Our nation is strongest when we act together — and we simply cannot allow this collection of murderers and …

Kurdish forces drove Islamic State militants back from the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq on Monday, in an advance backed by heavy air strikes from a US-led coalition. Speaking to a local television channel near the frontline, Kirkuk governor Najmaldin Karim, who was wearing a helmet, said the …

The US-led anti-terror coalition on Sunday evening struck an oil refinery under the control of the Islamic State (IS) militants in a border Syrian town near Turkey, killing 30 militants, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Arab Foreign Ministers on Monday started their 143rd session at the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo to discuss draft resolutions prepared by the permanent delegates on several issues, mainly the protection of Arab national security. First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah is …

“Turkey won’t be a part of an armed clash in Iraq or Syria. We can supply aid to Mosul, but we won’t be involved in a direct clash,” Davutoğlu said in his remarks to reporters en route to New York. However, he added that if there were to be a …

Heavy clashes erupted on March 5 between Syrian regime forces and rebels near an intelligence headquarters the opposition had tried to seize in a spectacular attack, a monitor and security source said. “There are very heavy battles between regime forces and (rebel) fighters in the area of yesterday’s attack, with …

Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad is not a “credible” partner in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), French President Francois Hollande said March 5 after meeting Syria’s exiled opposition chief. Hollande said in a statement after meeting Khaled Khoja that Assad “is the main cause of his people’s suffering, …

Two cargo planes carrying Turkish military aid to Iraqi soldiers arrived in Baghdad on March 3, a Turkish official said, stressing that the assistance includes non-lethal military equipment aid for 500 soldiers of the central government. The military aid includes camouflage desert caps, assault vests, helmets, sleeping bags, blankets for …

Backed by allied Shiite and Sunni fighters, Iraqi security forces on Monday began a large-scale military operation to recapture Saddam Hussein’s hometown from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), state TV said, a major step in a campaign to reclaim a large swath of territory in northern Iraq controlled by …