Iraqi Kurdish fighters are exchanging heavy fire with militants as they advance from two directions on an Islamic State-held town east of the city of Mosul.

Turkish jets and artillery have struck US-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, killing as many as 200 fighters, according to Turkey's state-run news agency.

Iraqi government forces backed by the US-led coalition are "on the cusp" of taking Islamic State's (IS) last major stronghold in the country, Britain's Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has said.

Anyone who  believes that suicide bombings are the dying sting of Islamic State is mistaken writes Peter Van Buren

A Corkman who volunteered to fight ISIS on the front line in Iraq has appealed to the people of Ireland to help support efforts to thwart the spiralling crisis, writes Liz Dunphy of the Evening Echo.

A Corkman who volunteered to fight ISIS on the front line in Iraq has appealed to the people of Ireland to help support efforts to thwart the spiralling crisis, writes Liz Dunphy of the Evening Echo.

At least 13 people were killed and 15 others injured when a group of gunmen, including two suicide bombers, stormed a coffee shop in a town north of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said.

The US warned its citizens to be ready to leave Iraq in the event of what it has said could be a catastrophic collapse of the country’s largest hydro-electric dam near Mosul.

Iraqi forces yesterday took control of the government complex in central Ramadi, the last Islamic State stronghold in the western city, a military spokesman said.

A wave of attacks across Iraq has killed at least 15 civilians, as government forces press on with their offensive to dislodge Islamic State militants from a major city west of Baghdad.

Iraq’s foreign minister has called on Ankara to co-ordinate with Baghdad in its military campaign against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions in northern Iraq following accusations that Turkish forces crossed the border into Iraq last week.

Iraqi forces, trained by the US in recent years and reinforced with US armour, is losing military equipment to Islamic State at a staggering rate, writes Peter Van Buren

Islamic State (IS) extremists have unleashed a wave of suicide attacks targeting the Iraqi army in western Anbar province, killing at least 17 troops.

Since Saudi Arabia's foundation, its leaders have tried to keep a friendly regime in power in Yemen to prevent it from posing a threat. However, Mohamad Bazzi says this time the stakes are higher

The US-led coalition has begun surveillance flights over the Islamic State-held city of Tikrit and offering intelligence to the Iraqi forces trying to take it, an official has revealed.

UNESCO appeals to global community to protect heritage

Boris Johnson has branded religious extremists lured by organisations such as Islamic State (IS) as “wankers” who are obsessed with pornography.

The decision by the Irish government to recognize the state of Palestine is a welcome development, writes former president of Turkey Abdullah Gül.

Iran has launched air strikes against Islamic State (IS) militants in eastern Iraq, the Pentagon has said.

Islamic State (IS) group extremists have lined up and shot dead at least 50 tribesmen, women and children in Iraq’s Anbar province, officials said, in the latest mass killing committed by the group.

Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has said the nation’s air force will launch strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq.

Islamic State insurgents in Iraq have carried out mass executions, abducted women and girls as sex slaves, and used child soldiers in what may amount to systematic war crimes, the UN said.

British prime minister David Cameron announced the recall of parliament to seek MPs’ approval for British involvement in air strikes on the Islamic State terror group in Iraq.

World powers yesterday backed military measures to help defeat Islamic State fighters in Iraq, boosting Washington’s efforts to set up a coalition, but made no mention of the tougher diplomatic challenge next door in Syria.

France will join the US-led airstrikes targeting extremists in Iraq as part of an expanding international effort to combat the Islamic State group, Iraq’s new prime minister has said.

President Barack Obama has moved to deepen the US military role in the volatile Middle East, vowing to wage an unrelenting counter-terrorism effort that will rely on air strikes to target Islamic State (IS) fighters in both Iraq and Syria.

US Secretary of State John Kerry endorsed Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s plans to mend Baghdad’s relations with Sunnis and Kurds, and said Iraq was a partner in the fight against Islamic State militants.

US president Barack Obama has told congressional leaders that he has the authority he needs to carry out a broader campaign to root out the violent extremists in Iraq and Syria.

President Barack Obama will begin laying out a strategy this week to defeat Islamic State militants in the Middle East, meeting with congressional leaders tomorrow and giving a speech on Wednesday, the eve of the 13th anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack on US soil.

Amnesty International says it has uncovered "gruesome" evidence of ethnic cleansing in northern Iraq by Islamic State (IS) militants.

Aid has begun to flow to a small northern Shiite town in Iraq, a day after security forces backed by Iran-allied Shiite militias and US airstrikes broke a two-month siege by Sunni militants.

The United Nations Security Council, and the five permanent members (US, UK, France, Russia, China), need to be seen to take decisive action in relation to ISIS activities in Iraq.