Iraqi And Kurdish Units

President Barack Obama ruled out a shift in strategy in the fight against Islamic State on Monday despite the deadly attacks in Paris, saying putting more US troops on the ground as sought by his political critics "would be a mistake."

Kurdish forces and the Syrian army fought separate battles with Islamic State around Hasaka city in northeast Syria overnight as the hardline group tried to capture more areas of the major urban centre near the Iraqi border, a monitor said today.

Iraqi Kurdistan plans to strengthen its relationship with Iran, the prime minister of the semi-autonomous region said on Wednesday in an acknowledgement of the deepening ties between Arbil and Tehran.

The United States carried out another round of air strikes Monday against militants from the so-called Islamic States battling Iraqi and Kurdish forces near a major dam in northern Iraq.

Iraq's army spokesman says security forces and Kurdish fighters have taken back the strategic Mosul Dam, the country's largest, from Islamic militants who captured it less than two weeks ago.

Iraqi Kurdish fighters backed by US warplanes retook the country's largest dam from jihadists yesterday, as Sunni Arab tribesmen and security forces fought the militants west of Baghdad.

The Obama administration may announce on Tuesday a decision to send more military advisers to Iraq, U.S. officials said, as the United States helps confront radical Islamist militants who threaten Iraqi minorities and the northern Kurdish enclave.

Thousands of people from Iraq's Yazidi minority trapped on a mountain in northern Iraq by Islamic State militants have been able to escape in the past three days with help from Kurdish security forces and others, a U.N. official said on Monday.

United States President Barack Obama said on Saturday that US airstrikes have destroyed arms and equipment that Islamic State insurgents could have used to attack Arbil, the Iraqi Kurdish capital, but warned the current operation in Iraq could take some time.

The Iraqi government provided a planeload of ammunition to Peshmerga fighters from Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish region on Friday, a US official said, in an unprecedented act of military cooperation between Kurdish and Iraqi forces brought on by an acute militant threat.

President Barack Obama ruled out a shift in strategy in the fight against Islamic State on Monday despite the deadly attacks in Paris, saying putting more US troops on the ground as sought by his political critics "would be a mistake."

Kurdish forces and the Syrian army fought separate battles with Islamic State around Hasaka city in northeast Syria overnight as the hardline group tried to capture more areas of the major urban centre near the Iraqi border, a monitor said today.

Iraqi Kurdistan plans to strengthen its relationship with Iran, the prime minister of the semi-autonomous region said on Wednesday in an acknowledgement of the deepening ties between Arbil and Tehran.

The United States carried out another round of air strikes Monday against militants from the so-called Islamic States battling Iraqi and Kurdish forces near a major dam in northern Iraq.

Iraq's army spokesman says security forces and Kurdish fighters have taken back the strategic Mosul Dam, the country's largest, from Islamic militants who captured it less than two weeks ago.

Iraqi Kurdish fighters backed by US warplanes retook the country's largest dam from jihadists yesterday, as Sunni Arab tribesmen and security forces fought the militants west of Baghdad.

The Obama administration may announce on Tuesday a decision to send more military advisers to Iraq, U.S. officials said, as the United States helps confront radical Islamist militants who threaten Iraqi minorities and the northern Kurdish enclave.

Thousands of people from Iraq's Yazidi minority trapped on a mountain in northern Iraq by Islamic State militants have been able to escape in the past three days with help from Kurdish security forces and others, a U.N. official said on Monday.

United States President Barack Obama said on Saturday that US airstrikes have destroyed arms and equipment that Islamic State insurgents could have used to attack Arbil, the Iraqi Kurdish capital, but warned the current operation in Iraq could take some time.

The Iraqi government provided a planeload of ammunition to Peshmerga fighters from Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish region on Friday, a US official said, in an unprecedented act of military cooperation between Kurdish and Iraqi forces brought on by an acute militant threat.