The Iran nuiclear deal comes as the US is in a de facto alliance with Tehran against ISIS, and includes a lifting of sanctions on a notorious commander of counterinsurgency forces in Syria and Iraq.
Syrian regime forces backed by Iranian troops clashed with residents of two Alawite villages outside Hama following a wave of mass arrests in the area.
Egypt's dictatorial President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi received a delegation from the American Jewish Committee to discuss ways to "defeat terrorism" in the region.
Two Spanish volunteers who went to Iraq to fight ISIS in an "International Brigade" were arrested upon their return and face charges of membership in a "terrorist organization."
Obama's Pentagon speech on his strategy against ISIS boasted of "effective partners on the ground"—but pointedly made no actual reference to the Rojava Kurds.
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee warned that extremist groups' destruction of antiquities and heritage sites in conflict zones could amount to war crimes.
Druze villagers in the Golan killed a wounded Syrian fighter seized from an IDF ambulance—in mistaken belief he was from Nusra Front, which has massacred Syrian Druze.
PKK fighters attacked a military base in eastern Turkey, as the guerilla organization warned that Turkish military intervention against the Syrian Kurds will mean "internal war."
Widespread reports in the Turkish media indicate President Erdogan is preparing an invasion of northern Syria in response to Kurdish territorial gains against ISIS.
ISIS, retreating before an advance by Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria, launched a stealth attack on the Kurdish town of Kobani, with a wave of car bombs and random shootings.
A report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian war states that new reports of chemical attacks this year are under investigation.
The US State Department finds that the number of "terrorist attacks" around the world rose by a third in 2014, largely due to the expansion of ISIS and Boko Haram.
