The Islamic State group released an audio recording Thursday of what it said was its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi calling on members under pressure in Syria and Iraq to "resist" their enemies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday met his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks on Syria and a key weapons deal, hoping to strengthen an increasingly active relationship that has troubled the West.

Ousting the last Islamic State group fighters from Raqa will be tough, but the jihadists are breathing their "last gasps" in their Syrian bastion, a senior U.S.-led coalition commander told the AFP news agency.

The Iraqi Kurdish regional government on Thursday rejected measures adopted by Baghdad in the wake of its independence vote as illegal and nothing more than "collective punishment."

Human Rights Watch on Thursday condemned abuse by paramilitary units fighting alongside Iraqi security forces to expel Islamic State group jihadists from their last redoubts in the country.

A Christian legislator was Thursday elected speaker of parliament in predominantly Muslim Syria for the first time in decades.

Saudi Arabia's decision to allow women to drive had some sounding the death knell for ride-hailing apps like Careem, but its co-founder expects business to flourish and even plans to hire thousands of female drivers.

A Sydney-based Saudi rights activist who led a campaign for women to drive in the conservative kingdom Thursday vowed to return and become one of the first to legally get behind the wheel.

Israeli prosecutors charged two Arab citizens on Thursday with plotting to carry out a shooting in the streets of Jerusalem's Old City out of loyalty to the Islamic State group.

Iraq has suspended all international flights to and from the Iraqi Kurdish capital Arbil from Friday, sending anxious foreigners rushing to the airport, as Baghdad cranked up the pressure on the Kurds over their independence referendum.

The cut in foreign air links, Baghdad's first retaliatory measure for Monday's 92-percent "yes" vote, drew condemnation from the Kurds' regional government as "collective punishment."