Antalya / AFP Turkey is offering to “join forces” with Washington for a special operation inside Syria on condition it doesn’t include a Syrian Kurdish militia blacklisted by Ankara but seen as an ally by the US, the foreign minister said. Washington’s support of Kurdish fighters in Syria in the fight against IS extremists has angered Ankara, especially after AFP ...

  Baghdad / AP Iraqi forces thrust into the city of Fallujah from three directions on Monday marking a new and perilous urban phase in the week-old operation to retake the extremist bastion. Led by the elite counter-terrorism service (CTS), Iraq’s best trained and most seasoned fighting unit, the forces pushed in before dawn, commanders said. “Iraqi forces entered Fallujah ...

  BAGHDAD / AP A wave of bombings claimed by the IS group targeted commercial areas in and around Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 24 people. The bombings by IS, which has been behind several recent deadly attacks in Baghdad and beyond, are seen as an attempt by the militants to distract the security forces’ attention away from the ...