Middle East

Normally, the "central banker of oil" would slow production to push up prices. Not so now. Some say it's a geopolitical tactic aimed at Russia and Iran; others say it's just protecting market share.

More than a month after the U.S. targeted a shadowy al-Qaida bomb-making group known as the Khorasan in Syria with Tomahawk cruise missiles, little is known about the impact of that attack.

As peshmerga troops start to arrive in the Syrian border town, some Syrian insurgents say that reinforcement is needed more urgently in Aleppo — which is nearly encircled by government forces.

The self-proclaimed Islamic State is known as the world's richest terrorist organization, but the group is having to pay for services to the areas they are controlling in Syria and Iraq. U.S. analysts and officials say the financial burden of the group's territorial ambitions could ultimately lead to ISIS' demise.

U.S. airstrikes against the Islamic State began nearly three months ago, yet there have been relatively few changes on the battlefield. Many analysts say the U.S. effort may not be sufficient.

The so-called Islamic State is raking in millions selling oil to smugglers. The U.S. is working to undermine the militant group's finances by interrupting oil sales and punishing companies that purchase crude from them.

Kurdish groups have often quarreled among themselves, or at least kept their distance. But Kurds from Iraq and Turkey have been fighting side by side in northern Iraq against the Islamic State.