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"New rules requiring the U.S. and its coalition partners to obtain prior Iraqi government approval to launch aircraft have negatively impacted the fight against Islamic State militants, according to a report."

"For most of the past year soldiers with the 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team out of the Georgia Army National Guard were spread around Afghanistan running a range of duties from training Afghan soldiers, to pulling basic guard duty to artillery fire missions to 'Guardian Angel' security protection from insider attacks."

"Iran's shutdown of domestic Internet access as part of a crackdown on anti-government protests has stretched beyond four days, an unprecedented outage that has caused growing harm to the economy."

"Iran has shown its ability to deploy forces and air assets beyond its borders in support of allies across the Middle East in the wake of civil wars that have destabilized the region, according to a defense intelligence report on Iran’s military capabilities."

"The Islamic State is expected to revamp its operations in Syria and is predicted to grow its capability to attack the West — now that U.S. and allied-Syrian Democratic Forces’ operations to combat ISIS in Syria have been curtailed, according to a new report."

The United States and NATO are pledging unity in tackling challenges, including fighting terrorism, cyber threats and boosting energy security, seven decades after the establishment of the transatlantic partnership.

"Israel’s military said four rockets were fired from Syria toward the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights early Tuesday, ratcheting up tensions in Israel’s north just days after a shaky cease-fire ended fighting with Iran-backed militants in Gaza that had raised concerns of a wider conflict in the country’s south."

Amnesty International says Iranian security forces have killed at least 106 people in nationwide anti-government protests since Friday, four times the death toll of Iran’s last mass protests two years ago.

Almost two-thirds of Afghan children have been impacted by the ongoing conflict in the war-wracked country, the British-based Save the Children charity says.

"Dozens of people may have been killed in Iran since Friday during protests against a sharp rise in petrol prices, the UN human rights office says."

"Congress is preparing bipartisan sanctions on Russian mercenaries and other suspected human rights violators in Libya, Al-Monitor has learned, as the Donald Trump administration looks to use the recent entry of Moscow-linked paramilitaries into the conflict to reinvigorate a long-dormant American strategy in the war-torn country."

"The Afghan Taliban have freed two Western hostages in exchange for three imprisoned senior militants, officials and Taliban sources say."

Authorities in Iran have blocked internet service for a third day as part of a crackdown on nationwide anti-government protests in which at least eight people have been killed since the unrest began Friday.

"Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that the U.S. no longer will consider Israeli settlements to be illegal under international law, a move that formalizes the Trump administration’s treatment of the West Bank and shifts decades of U.S. policy."

"When the leaders of the 29 NATO nations gather in London at the start of December, the focus will nominally be on a celebration of the past and a look to the future. But analysts agree that as much as the event is billed as NATO’s 70th birthday, politics could make the situation feel more like a funeral."

"The New York Times and The Intercept say they have reviewed hundreds of pages of purported Iranian intelligence documents that detail Iran’s massive influence in neighboring Iraq."

"Iran’s role became so connected to abuses in some cases that locals said they would prefer Israel to Iran."

Protesters in Lebanon came out en masse on Sunday, marking a full month of demonstrations against corruption and a host of other grievances.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed "thugs" for damaging property in protests that left at least two people dead. His comments come as the government shut off internet across Iran in an attempt to quell protests over the raising of government-set gasoline prices by 50%.

One Iraqi protester was killed and more than 30 others were wounded Sunday amid renewed clashes on a key bridge in Baghdad. The protesters now have control of three bridges crossing the Tigris River toward the heavily fortified Green Zone, the seat of Iraq's government.

"The Afghan government said Saturday it was reassessing its decision to free three imprisoned senior Taliban fighters, following a failed prisoner swap this week aimed at helping resuscitate negotiations on a political settlement of the 18-year Afghan war."

"Leaders of France, Russia, Ukraine and Germany to meet in December; new report into 2014 downing of Malaysian passenger jet further implicates Russia."

"The modern Middle East was formed exactly 100 years ago when, in the wake of World War I, the victors began creating new countries. Among the populations deemed deserving of nationhood — along with Armenians and Azeris — were the Kurds."

"President Donald Trump has pardoned a former U.S. Army commando set to stand trial next year in the killing of a suspected Afghan bomb-maker and for a former Army lieutenant who had been convicted of murder after he ordered his men to fire upon three Afghans, killing two, the White House announced late Friday."

"A senior U.S. coalition commander said Friday the partnership with Syrian Kurdish forces remains strong and focused on fighting the Islamic State group, despite an expanding Turkish incursion into areas under Kurdish control."