They are veterans of Syria's rebellion, trying for years to bring down President Bashar Assad. But these days they're doing little fighting with his military. They're struggling to find a place in a bewildering battlefield where several wars are all being waged at once by international powers.

Syria's civil war has become a madhouse of forces from Turkey, the United States, Syrian Kurds, the Islamic State group, al-Qaida as well as Assad's allies Russia, Iran, Lebanon's Hezbollah, Iraqi and Afghan Shiite militias — all with their own alliances and agendas.

Israel and Arab countries have fought several conflicts since the Jewish state was created in 1948, without counting its offensives in Lebanon and the two intifadas, or uprisings, in occupied Palestinian territories:

- The 1948 war - The first war breaks out on May 15, 1948, the day after the proclamation of Israel's statehood by David Ben-Gurion.

The Arab-Israeli Six-Day War erupted early on Monday, June 5, 1967, a morning that saw heavy Israeli bombing of Egyptian air bases near Cairo and in the Suez desert.

Relations between the United States and Germany veered further toward crisis on Tuesday as President Donald Trump complained about the U.S. trade deficit with Germany and said it must pay more for the NATO military alliance.

U.S. President Donald Trump's performance at a "shocking" NATO summit has dealt a major blow to the alliance and may hand a win to Vladimir Putin, analysts say.

Washington has announced a bumper arms deal with Saudi Arabia, heralding the package as a major boost to long-standing security ties and a way to further isolate Iran.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who had a rape investigation against him in Sweden dropped by prosecutors on Friday, has lived in Ecuador's embassy in London for nearly five years to avoid arrest.

Iran's presidential election Friday is effectively a choice between moderate incumbent Hassan Rouhani and hardline jurist Ebrahim Raisi, with major implications for everything from civil rights to relations with Washington.

The black Humvee slaloming between car bomb carcasses and mortar craters stops to let fleeing civilians cross and then resumes its tooth-loosening ride down the churned up west Mosul street.

The past week has seen extraordinary political turmoil in Washington, as President Donald Trump faces grave accusations that he has obstructed justice.