Syria / AFP US-backed fighters edged further into the IS group stronghold of Manbij on Saturday, threatening a key staging post on the extremists’ lifeline from Turkey to their “caliphate” in Syria and neighbouring Iraq. If it succeeds, the offensive on Manbij—backed by intense air strikes by a US-led coalition—would mark the most significant victory against IS for the Syrian …

  Libya / AFP A car bomb killed four civilians and wounded 14 others in the war-torn Libyan city of Benghazi Friday night, a hospital official said. The car was parked in front of the entrance of the Al-Jalaa hospital, one of the two biggest in the city and where troops get treatment for injuries battling armed groups, including IS …

  Syria / AFP Russian and Syrian warplanes pounded rebel-held areas of divided second city Aleppo on Saturday as government forces closed in on the rebels’ sole remaining supply line, a monitoring group said. An AFP correspondent in the rebel-held east of the city said the air strikes lasted throughout the night into the morning. Aleppo, which was Syria’s commercial …