Topic: Islamic State

Five nominees for President-elect Joe Biden's Cabinet gave testimony to Senate confirmation committees Tuesday: Antony Blinken, Janet Yellen, Alejandro Myorkas, Avril Haines and Austin Lloyd.

The Trump administration on Wednesday imposed sanctions targeting two organizations it accuses of being controlled by Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and designated a former leader of a terrorist group.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday said without providing concrete evidence that the terrorist organization al-Qaida has established its new operational headquarters in Iran.

In an interview on Al-Arabiya Al-Hadath TV on Christmas Eve, Zafer al-Aani, a senior member of the Iraqi Parliament, blamed the recent rocket attack on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad squarely on Iran.

U.S. Africa Command conducted two airstrikes in Somalia Thursday that killed eight, officials said.

President-elect Joe Biden formally nominated retired four-star Army Gen. Lloyd Austin III to be his defense secretary Wednesday.

President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday is expected to nominate retired Gen. Lloyd Austin III, a former U.S. commander in Iraq, to be the next secretary of defense.

The Trump administration has added Nigeria to a list of the world's worst violators of religious freedom, opening up the African nation to punitive measures.

The Trump administration on Friday ordered most U.S. troops out of Somalia, a move a Defense Department watchdog warned last month could damage gains the country has made against al-Shabab.

The head of U.S. Army Pacific soon could be named the commander of the U.S.-led United Nations Command and U.S. Forces Korea, according to South Korean press reports.