U.S. military

The U.N. will start on May 5 hosting separate talks with rival sides and "as many stakeholders as possible" in war-torn Syria in a bid to kickstart stalled negotiations to end the four-year conflict, AFP reported. 

Iraq?s largest refinery in Baiji is not ?at risk? despite an offensive by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group that has breached parts of the facility, the U.S. military?s top general said on April 16.

CIA Director John Brennan said on March 13 the United States does not want to see a chaotic collapse of the Syrian regime as it could open the way to Islamist extremists taking power.

A series of critical issues in relation to the fight against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants and the training of moderate opponents in Syria will be on the table during a military meeting in Saudi Arabia this week.

The U.S. military has made progress in its effort to identify moderate Syrian rebels to train for the fight against Islamic State militants and a U.S. training mission could begin this spring, the Pentagon said on Jan. 7.
  

Jordan vowed Dec. 25 to make every effort to save a pilot captured by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants in Syria as Washington denied claims the jihadists shot his warplane out of the sky.

The U.S.-led coalition conducted 12 air strikes against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants in Syria on Dec. 22 and 10 strikes Iraq, the U.S. military said in a statement.
   

Kurdish and Yazidi fighters battled to take the strategic northern Iraqi town of Sinjar back from
Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on Dec. 21 after breaking a months-long siege of the mountain above it.

Seizing the town would restore the majority of territory Iraq's Kurds lost in the jihadist group's surprise August offensive.

The Pentagon on Dec. 12 said Italy and Turkey would provide initial heavy maintenance of Lockheed Martin Corp's new F-35 fighter jet and its engine in Europe from 2018, paving the way for billions of dollars in work by companies there.

The United States and Turkey are closing in on a deal that will allow the U.S. military and allied forces to use Turkish air bases in their campaign against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants in Syria, the Wall Street Journal reported Dec. 1.