The Turkish army is shelling and burning Kurdish villages in the country's east, while just across the Syrian border ISIS continues to harass Kurdish towns with suicide attacks.
Following years of drought, Iran has quietly sought help from the US in managing a severe water crisis during the same period that US-Iran nuclear talks were underway.
A partial ceasefire in Syria was brokered by the great regional enemies Turkey and Iran—and may signal the division of the country into "spheres of influence."
From Gothamist, Aug. 11: Cobble Hill Locals Mourn Death of Beloved Oriental Pastry & Grocery Co-Owner Cobble Hill shopkeepers and local residents are reeling from the sudden death of Muyassar Moustapha, who was fatally run over on Atlantic Avenue on… Read moreWHY WE FIGHT
Kurdish-American pop singer Helly Luv is facing death threats from ISIS after travelling to the frontline in northern Iraq to produce a music video cheering on the Peshmerga.
Nearly a quarter of a million people have died in Syria's war since March 2011, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights—over a third civilians.
As Turkey continues to bomb Kurdish anti-ISIS fighters in Iraq, violence is quickly spreading within Turkey itself—with bombings and armed clashes from Istanbul to the Kurdish east.
Federal authoriites approved an expansion of coal-mining and burning in the Four Corners area—as NASA has detected a massive methane plume over the region.
Young Yazidis—including women—are returning to Iraq's Mount Sinjar from which they were "cleansed" by ISIS last year, fighting to reclaim their homeland from the jihadists.
Despite early pledges to seek a nuclear-free world, Obama is launching a "modernization" of the US arsenal that actually makes atomic war more likely.
The US and Turkey have reached an agreement to keep Kurdish forces out of the northern Syria "buffer zone" as Ankara expands its air-strikes in both Syria and Iraq.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and related networks are said to control Saharan smuggling routes for Moroccan hashish to fund their regional operations.
