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US President Barack Obama on Thursday said that US air strikes had ended the siege in the Sinjar Mountains in Iraq where civilians had sought refuge, and that soldiers conducting reconnaissance will be withdrawn. However, he added that US air strikes will continue against extremist forces belonging to the Islamic State (IS) if they threaten US facilities and personnel in …

Palestinian and Israeli negotiators have reportedly agreed to extend their truce deal in the Gaza Strip by five days, only minutes before their three-day ceasefire was about to expire at 21:00 GMT on Wednesday. Officials from both parties have been in indirect talks in Cairo, with Egyptian mediators trying to find a peace solution to the conflict. Palestinian and Egyptian …

On Wednesday, militants from the extremist group Islamic State (IS) captured several villages in northern Syria, killing 52 people in the process, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The extremists captured eight villages between Aleppo and the Turkish border, bolstered by their success in Iraq, the observatory said. They killed 40 fighters from other rebel groups and capture 50 …

On Tuesday, US Secretary of State urged Iraq’s newly appointed prime minister-designate Haidar al-Abadi to quickly form an all-inclusive government. “We are urging him to form a new cabinet as swiftly as possible and the U.S. stands ready to support a new and inclusive Iraqi government and particularly its fight against ISIL. Let me be very clear, we have always …

On Tuesday, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned the Israeli “war crimes” in Gaza and urged donors to meet and discuss financial reconstruction of the Palestinian enclave. The OIC, after its second meeting in three days, said that it had condemned Israeli “in the liveliest terms” during the meeting and called Israel “the occupying force, for war crimes it …

On Tuesday, Israel lashed out at the United Nations after the UNHRC named the chairman of the team which will investigate Israeli war crimes in Gaza. William Schabas, aCanadian international lawyer, is all set to lead the commission – Schabas is widely regarded by Israel as being hostile to it. “This commission’s anti-Israeli conclusions have already been written, all it …

Late on Tuesday, negotiators in Cairo began to discuss Israel’s blockade on Gaza as they approached the 48-hour mark on the three-day ceasefire. Palestinian and Israeli negotiators continued their indirect talks in an attempt to find more permanent peace in the region. According to sources, Monday’s negotiations had lasted for 48 hours, and all parties involved felt reaching a permanent …

The United Nations on Monday said human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin, Movie star George Clooney’s fiancé, is set to join other human rights experts and investigate the Israeli offensive in Gaza. The Lebanon-born British lawyer is one of three top human rights experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council on a commission of inquiry to probe the aggression; the …

Tens of thousands of people in the Gaza Strip returned to run-down homes on Monday, hoping that the new three-day ceasefire will lead to more permanent peace as humanitarian workers and local officials began to inspect the damage in the Palestinian enclave. In Gaza City, which has a population of over 500,000, around 20-25% of the houses have been damaged, …

On Monday, Iraqi President Fuad Masum tasked Haidar al-Abadi, the first deputy speaker of parliament, with forming the new government. “The country is now in your hands”, Masum told Abadi during a brief ceremony which was aired live on television; only moments earlier, Abadi was picked by the Shiite National Alliance parliamentary bloc as a nominee for Prime Minister over …