US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter arrived in Ankara on Friday for talks with the leaders of Turkey, a crucial but sensitive ally in the fight against the Islamic State group.

Gunmen wearing suicide vests attacked government targets in the Kurdish-controlled city of Kirkuk and killed 16 at an Iranian-run construction site further north on Friday as troops advanced on jihadist bastion Mosul.

Lebanon’s former prime minister Saad al-Hariri said yesterday he would back Hezbollah ally Michel Aoun to become president, a step that may help resolve the country’s political deadlock but which still faces considerable opposition.

The offensive to seize back Mosul from Islamic State is going faster than planned, Iraq’s prime minister said yesterday, as Iraqi and Kurdish forces launched a new military operation to clear villages on the city’s outskirts.

A “humanitarian pause” in the Syrian army’s Russian-backed assault on Aleppo took effect yesterday, but despite a drop in violence there was little sign residents were heeding calls to leave.

A 72-hour truce in Yemen came under pressure yesterday when missiles fired from Yemen injured civilians in southern Saudi Arabia, according to an Arab coalition which launched air strikes that Iran-allied Houthi fighters said killed three people.

Turkish warplanes carried out deadly strikes on US-backed militias in northern Syria, including Syrian Kurdish fighters, a monitor said Thursday, action that is likely to raise tensions between the NATO allies.

A number of civilians in the southern Saudi Arabian province of Jazan have been injured by missiles fired from Yemen, the Saudi civil defense unit was quoted as saying by the Saudi-owned television news channel Al Arabiya on Thursday.

Lebanon has detained eight Syrians accused of plotting suicide bomb attacks at popular tourist spots and on Lebanon's United Nations peacekeeping force, Lebanon's intelligence agency said on Thursday.

Saudi social media users interpret the rare execution of an Al Saud prince as a sign of equality under Islamic law, approval likely to reassure Riyadh's absolute rulers as large spending cuts ...

The Syrian military said on Thursday a unilateral ceasefire backed by Russia had come into force to allow people to leave besieged eastern Aleppo, a move that the rebels have said ...

A pause in Russian and Syrian strikes on Aleppo was holding for a second day yesterday, ahead of a brief unilateral ceasefire aimed at allowing civilians and rebels to quit the devastated city.