Westerners join Kurds fighting Islamic State group in Iraq
As Kurdish fighters gathered around a fire in this damp, frigid mountain town in northwestern Iraq, exhausted from battling the Islamic State group, a surprising recruit wearing a tactical vest with the words “Christ is Lord” scribbled on it joined them.
The cost of leaving Islamic State: Death or jail
The man stands furtively on a street corner, his face masked by a hoodie, his tense eyes scanning the crowd for any hint of Islamic State militants.
Peshmerga troops cheered by fellow Kurds
Iraqi peshmerga troops were cheered Wednesday by fellow Kurds in southeastern Turkey as the fighters slowly made their way toward the Syrian Kurdish border town of Kobani.
U.S.: Militants use beheadings to make up for losses
For months, Islamic State militants rampaged across Syria and Iraq, seizing cities, taking hostages and terrorizing all who dared to confront them.
Blair says airstrikes not enough to beat militants
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair says airstrikes alone will not be enough to defeat Islamic State group militants.
Some 130,000 Syrians reach Turkey, fleeing ISIS
The number of Syrian refugees who have reached Turkey in the past four days after fleeing the advance of Islamic State militants now totals 130,000, Turkey’s deputy prime minister said Monday.
Obama to outline strategy on Islamic State
President Barack Obama plans to begin laying out his strategy for defeating Islamic State militants expanding their grip in Iraq and Syria.
Leaders: U.S., UK will ‘not be cowed’ by militants
NATO leaders grappled today with whether the alliance has a role in containing a mounting militant threat in the Middle East, as heads of state converged in Wales for a high-stakes summit also focused on the crisis in Ukraine and next steps in Afghanistan.
Second Syria beheading raises stakes for U.S.
Islamic State extremists have released a video showing the beheading of a second American journalist, Steven Sotloff, and warned President Barack Obama that continuing airstrikes against the group in Iraq will be met with the killing of more Western captives.
Foley’s parents had hoped to negotiate
The parents of slain journalist James Foley said they regarded an email they received from his captors last week as a hopeful sign they could negotiate with the Islamic militants.
U.S. special ops troops tried but failed to find hostages
President Barack Obama sent special operations troops to Syria this summer on a secret mission to rescue American hostages, including journalist James Foley, held by Islamic State extremists, but they did not find them, officials say.
Slain American journalist remembered as driven
In 2011, just after James Foley was released from the Libyan prison where he’d been held for six weeks, he acknowledged the peril journalists face covering the world’s most dangerous places, soberly conceding that a mistake could mean death.
Another American hostage at risk by Islamic State
In a horrifying act of revenge for U.S. airstrikes in northern Iraq, militants with the Islamic State extremist group have beheaded American journalist James Foley — and are threatening to kill another hostage, U.S. officials say.
Pakistanis bury slain teachers, aid workers
Hundreds of villagers in northwest Pakistan turned out today to bury five female teachers and two health workers who were gunned down a day earlier by militants in what may have been the latest in a series of attacks targeting anti-polio efforts in the country.