Arbil / AFP Elite Iraqi forces battled the IS group on the eastern edge of Mosul on Tuesday, with a top commander saying the “true liberation” of the extremist-held city had begun. Amid heavy fighting on the eastern front over the past two days, forces from Iraq’s US-trained Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) had advanced into Gogjali, a village separated from Mosul ...

  Moscow / AFP Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on Tuesday accused the US-led coalition in Syria of failing to rein in hardline rebels, and said the chance of a political settlement was now remote. He said the coalition was “putting spokes in the wheel” of Russia’s military operation in the country and failing to “act in unison”. “As a ...

  Islamabad / AFP Amnesty International has called on Pakistan to release hundreds of opposition activists detained before a planned mass protest, as police used tear gas and rubber bullets overnight to prevent demonstrators from entering Islamabad. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is under growing pressure from opposition parties, mainly Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), over corruption. It plans to lock ...