US jets and drones carried out air-strikes outside Erbil in an effort to drive back the ISIS advance on the Kurdish regional capital, while Iraqi warplanes struck near Mosul.
The capture of an ISIS commander by the Lebanese army prompted Syrian jihadist forces to seize a village in the Bekaa Valley, sparking gun battles that have left some 20 dead.
Amnesty International released gruesome video footage providing evidence of war crimes, including extrajudicial executions, being carried out in Nigeria's conflicted north.
Kuwait's Supreme Court upheld a 10-year sentence for a man accused of posting Tweets that insulted the Prophet Mohammed and the rulers of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
Forces both aligned with and against the regimes in Iraq and Syria are mobilizing in both countries to beat back ISIS—Shi'ites, Sufis, Ba'athists and the secular civil resistance.
Bahrain's Ministry of Justice filed a suit seeking to suspend all activities of the main Shi'ite opposition group, whose leaders were accused of an illegal meeting with a US diplomat.
Iraqi security forces and pro-government militias have unlawfully executed at least 250 Sunni prisoners in six Iraqi cities and villages, Human Rights Watch reports.
The US and Iran alike are sending drones to Iraq to help the government beat back ISIS, while Russia has followed Washington in sending warplanes and military advisors.
The ISIS militants that have seized Mosul are engaged in a campaign of cultural cleansing—targeting not only the citiy's inhabitants, but its artistic and historical treasures.
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria warned the UN that the continuing civil war has "reached a tipping point, threatening the entire region."
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said that the numerous executions that have occurred over the past week in Iraq "almost certainly amount to war crimes."
Ayman al-Zawahiri purged ISIS from al-Qaeda and confered the local franchise on the rival Nusra Front. But with the old Qaeda leadership moribund, ISIS now controls much of Iraq.
