Albu Kamal

The United States carried out strikes against two Iran-linked sites in Syria on Sunday in response to attacks on American forces, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.

Iraqi forces have launched an offensive to recapture the last bastion of so-called Islamic State in the country.

Soldiers, police, Sunni tribesmen and mostly Shia paramilitary fighters are taking part in the assault on al-Qaim and Rawa, in the Euphrates river valley close to the border with Syria.

The prime minister told IS militants to "choose between death and surrender".

US-led coalition air strikes destroyed two key bridges used by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadist group on Syria's side of the border with Iraq early on July 31, a monitoring group said. 

Syria's opposition government sacked the military command of the rebel Free Syrian Army late Thursday over corruption allegations, as the White House asked lawmakers for $500 million for moderate insurgents.