Iraqi insurgency

France will maintain its participation in the coalition fighting ISIL forces in Syria, a government minister said on Dec. 20 after President Donald Trump surprised Washington's allies by ordering US troops home.

Three Australian nationals of Turkish descent who allegedly plotted "chilling" terror attacks in Melbourne were charged early on Nov. 20, less than two weeks after a stabbing rampage inspired by the ISIL left two dead in Australia's second city, police said.

More than 200 mass graves have been uncovered in Iraq in areas formerly controlled by the ISIL militants, the United Nations said on Nov. 6.

Seventeen Turkish children who were left behind by their parents who joined ISIL in Iraq have been brought back to Turkey, diplomatic sources said on Oct. 10, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

A Turkish woman has called on the authorities to save her two children that ended up in Iraqi prisons after being abducted by their father, who was an ISIL member.

Eleven people were detained in central Turkey on Sept. 27 over their suspected links to ISIL, according to a police source.

Turkish police have nabbed a suspected ISIL militant who allegedly communicated orders coming from Syria to members of the group in Turkey, security sources said on Sept. 24.

Militants shot dead at least 29 people including women and children in an attack Sept. 22 on an Iranian military parade claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, as Tehran accused a US ally in the region of the assault.

An Iraqi court on Sept. 19 sentenced a prominent jihadist described as a deputy of ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to death on terrorism charges.

U.S. troops in Syria will stay in the war-torn country until the job is done, a spokesperson for the Pentagon has said, underlining that there is still a lot of work to accomplish, like defeating ISIL and establishing security for the Syrian people.