Egypt on Wednesday criticized a U.S. decision to reduce financial aid and withhold some military assistance as a "misjudgment" of strategic ties between the two allies.

Iraqi forces advanced Wednesday towards central Tal Afar, one of the Islamic State group's last strongholds in the country, as aid workers braced for an exodus of civilians fleeing the fighting.

Pentagon chief Jim Mattis arrived in Ankara on Wednesday for talks with Turkish leaders expected to focus on Washington's arming of a Syrian Kurdish militia, which Turkey views as a terror group, in the fight against Islamic State.

Qatari and U.S. paratroopers held a joint training exercise in crisis-hit Doha on Tuesday which American officials said reinforced "the enduring military-to-military" partnership between the two countries.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday vowed Turkey would thwart any attempt by a Kurdish militia it deems "terrorists" to carve out a Kurdish state in northern Syria.

Iraq must do more to ensure that thousands of women and girls who survived sexual violence by Islamic State group jihadists receive care, protection and justice, the U.N. said Tuesday.

Iraqi forces backed by the U.S.-led coalition announced Tuesday they have retaken from the Islamic State group two districts of Tal Afar, the jihadists' last bastion in the country's north.

Pentagon chief Jim Mattis held talks in Baghdad Tuesday to show U.S. support for Iraqi forces as they pressed an assault on Tal Afar, the Islamic State group's last major bastion in the country's north.

Influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr's visit to Saudi Arabia at the end of July signaled the Gulf Sunni powerhouse's ambition to distance its Iranian foe from policy-making in Baghdad.

Dozens of civilians have died in two days of intense U.S.-led strikes on Raqa, a monitor said Tuesday, as fighting to retake the Syrian city from jihadists nears its densely populated center.