A US airstrike killed a Taliban splinter-group commander and several other fighters in the western Afghan province of Herat, Afghan and military sources said Thursday.

Iraq’s caretaker premier Adel Abdel Mahdi has asked the United States to send a delegation to Baghdad to begin preparing for a troop pullout, his office said yesterday.

An air strike in eastern Syria killed eight fighters of Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force overnight, a war monitor says.

Iran's civil aviation chief denies that a missile downed a Ukrainian airliner which crashed killing all 176 on board, dismissing claims of a catastrophic mistake by Tehran's air defences.

It is “highly likely” that Iran shot down the civilian Ukrainian jetliner that crashed near Tehran, killing all 176 people on board, US, Canadian and British officials declare.

China and WHO believe a mysterious pneumonia outbreak that struck 59 people is caused by a new strain of virus from the same family as SARS, which killed hundreds of people more than a decade ago.

Iranian missiles damaged or destroyed seven buildings in the part of Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq that houses US military personnel, satellite photographs appear to show.

The Philippines will no longer require its citizens to leave Iran and Lebanon as worries of a broader conflict in the Middle East eased, but the mandatory evacuation order for workers in Iraq remains in force, officials said yesterday.

Lebanon banned former auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn from travelling yesterday after questioning him over an Interpol “red notice” of charges of financial misconduct in Japan, judicial sources said.

Iranian missiles damaged or destroyed seven buildings in the part of Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq that houses US military personnel, satellite photographs appear to show.

Two rockets fell inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses government buildings and foreign missions, but caused no casualties, the Iraqi military says.

Following Wednesday’s briefing and the sessions, most of Trump's fellow Republicans praises the officials, and Trump, for the strike and the presentation.

The Philippines will dispatch cargo planes and a ship to help evacuate Filipino migrant workers from Iraq after ordering its citizens to leave following an Iranian missile strike targeting US troops, officials said yesterday.

“We received an official verbal message from the Islamic Republic of Iran that the Iranian response to the assassination of Qasem Soleimani had begun or would begin shortly, and that the strike would be limited to where the US military was located in Iraq without specifying the locations”.

“Its time for an Iraqi response. That response will be no less than the size of the Iranian response. That is a promise. … The International Resistance Regiments have been formed in order to execute a harsh, deliberate response to the American terrorist forces.”

“All is well! Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq. Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good! We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far! I will be making a statement tomorrow morning.”

Iran’s launching of more than a dozen missiles at American-led forces in Iraq on Wednesday came after years of preparing for a confrontation with its superpower foe, whose forces are vastly larger and more advanced.

Iranian state television says 80 "American terrorists" had been killed and US helicopters and military equipment damaged. It did not provide evidence of how it obtained that information.

A Ukrainian airliner crashes shortly after take-off from Tehran, bursting into flames and killing all 176 people on board.

Iran says it launched a missile attack on US-led forces in Iraq in the early hours of Wednesday in retaliation for the US drone strike on an Iranian commander whose killing has raised fears of a wider war in the Middle East.