The battle to oust the Islamic State group from its stronghold of Raqa is creating daunting challenges for aid groups responding to the latest humanitarian crisis in the Syrian conflict.

The leadership of the Palestinian Authority has agreed to halt payments to the families of slain attackers, including suicide bombers, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday.

The Human Rights Watch organization on Wednesday urged the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq to protect civilians from the effects of white phosphorus.

For Umm Mohammed and other residents of areas of war-battered west Mosul recaptured from Islamic State group jihadists, this year's Muslim holy month of Ramadan carries a bitter taste.

Tunisia has extended for another four months a state of emergency in place since a 2015 jihadist attack, the president's office announced on Wednesday.

Egypt's parliament approved on Wednesday a controversial maritime agreement with Saudi Arabia that transfers two Red Sea islands to the kingdom, state television and a lawmaker said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Tuesday said he understood the Kurdish minority's statehood aspirations but bemoaned its leadership's decision to hold an independence referendum in September.

The bullets of jihadists rain down outside the Mosul kindergarten, where dozens of terrified Iraqi civilians are sheltering from fighting in their northern city.

Following are key dates in the evolution of Islamist Palestinian movement Hamas, a sworn enemy of Israel that seized power in Gaza 10 years ago.

France has launched a judicial inquiry into the Syrian activities of French-Swiss cement and construction giant LafargeHolcim, Paris prosecutors said on Tuesday.