Fifteen Islamic State militants were killed during a security campaign on the Iraqi-Syrian border, a police spokesman said according to iraqinews.com.

“Acting upon intelligence reports, Federal Police killed 15 Islamic State militants while moving on the border between Iraq and Syria,” Spokesman for the Interior Ministry Brigadier General Saad Maan told Mawazin News.

“The security operation was launched after tracking down the Islamic State cell for a few days,” he said, adding that the troops seized medium arms and explosive belts.

Iraq declared the collapse of Islamic State’s territorial influence in Iraq earlier in November with the recapture of Rawa, a city on Anbar’s western borders with Syria, which was the group’s last bastion in Iraq.

IS declared a self-styled “caliphate” in a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in 2014. A government campaign, backed by paramilitary troops and a U.S.-led international coalition, was launched in 2016 to retake IS-held regions, managing to retake all havens, most notably the city of Mosul.

Last month, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared final victory over Islamic State three years after the militant group captured about a third of Iraq’s territory.

Abadi’s announcement came two days after Russia announced a similar victory over Islamic State militants in neighboring Syria. Abadi declared Dec. 10 an annual national holiday on this occasion.

The anti-regime protests spread more in Iran and Eastern Kurdistan as Iranian police and soldiers kill 22, like reported by anfenglish.com

In Iran and Eastern Kurdistan, protests against economic policies of the government and oppression continue to spread on its sixth day. At least 9 people lost their lives during the demonstrations in Tehran, Isfahan and cities of Eastern Kurdistan. The total death toll of the protests raised to 22.

Two people, including a teenager, were killed in Humeynisehr as Iranian police opened fire on demonstrators in the city centre.

In Najafabad, a woman armed with a hunting rifle killed one Iranian soldier and wounded three policemen. A police checkpoint was run over by angry protestors in the neighbouring city of Kehderijan.

The number of detained exceeded thousands according to the opposition sources. The deputy governor of Tehran Ali Ashgar Nasserbaht said that 450 were detained in the city alone in the last three days.

PROTESTS REMAIN STRONG IN EASTERN KURDISTAN

In Eastern Kurdistan cities thousands took it to the streets on Monday night. Protestors clashed with police in Sine, Kermanshah and Dehloran.

According to local sources, two protestors were killed by Iranian soldiers in Sine and 75 were wounded.

In Kermanshah, protestors attacked police headquarters in the city and violent clashes continued all night.

Anti-regime protests were also reported in Erdebil, a city with Azeri majority.

One of France’s most-wanted jihadists, Thomas Barnouin, has been captured by Kurdish YPG rebel fighters in Syria, French media report.

Barnouin, 36, is believed to be linked to a French jihadist cell that included Mohamed Merah, who murdered seven people in the Toulouse area in 2012.

Barnouin was captured about 10 days ago in Hassakeh, north-eastern Syria, with two other French converts to Islam – Romain Garnier and Thomas Collange.

They were with so-called Islamic State.

Barnouin is described as a veteran IS member, who had been arrested by Syrian soldiers in 2006 while en route to Iraq with another French jihadist, Sabri Essid.

After being handed over to the French authorities, both were jailed for five years in 2009. But after his release in 2014, Barnouin went to fight for IS in Syria, accompanied by his wife and children.

A third jihadist was also jailed in France with Barnouin and Essid – Fabien Clain, who claimed the November 2015 Paris attacks in the name of IS.

They were in the so-called “Artigat” jihadist cell, named after a village where an extremist imam, Olivier Correl, gathered militant followers. He is believed to have inspired Mohamed Merah.

The French government says about 1,700 French citizens have joined IS ranks in Iraq and Syria since the start of 2014, and 278 of them have been killed. An estimated 302 have returned to France.

In June, the head of France’s special forces, Vice-Admiral Laurent Isnard, said his units were directly involved in street battles against IS in Mosul.

Quoted by Reuters news agency, he denied a Wall Street Journal report that the French Special Forces Command (COS) was specifically targeting French jihadists there.

US-backed forces pushed IS out of Mosul in July and out of Raqqa – the self-declared IS “capital” – last month.

Iranian-backed Shia Hashd al-Shaabi militias continue to launch indiscriminate rocket attacks in Kurdish villages in Tuz Khurmatu, south of Kirkuk, according to Kurdish activists and kurdistan24.net.

A Facebook page run by local Kurdish activists on Wednesday asserted that the Hashd al-Shaabi, also known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), had shelled Kurdish villages in the Hanjeer mountain range, east of the disputed town of Khurmatu.

There were no reports of casualties.

The security situation in Tuz Khurmatu drastically deteriorated since the PMF took control of the city, which is home to a mix of Kurds, Turkmen, and Arab minorities.

The militias have been launching mortar attacks on several Kurdish villages east and north of Khurmatu since the start of December.

Earlier this month, the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights denounced the killing of seven people and injuring of 20 others, including women and children, as a result of the indiscriminate shelling in Tuz Khurmatu.

No group has thus far claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The bombardment of the villages is believed to be due to the presence of fighters who call themselves “The Liberation Army,” made up mostly of individuals from Khurmatu. The group was formed after the town and Kirkuk Province fell to Iraqi forces and the Hashd al-Shaabi militias on Oct. 16.

Khurmatu is one of many towns which continues to suffer from the instability and insecurity that followed the Oct. 16 takeover.

Dozens of thousands of people have been displaced, and thousands of houses have been looted, burnt, and destroyed according to local officials and international humanitarian organizations.

After the Islamic State (IS) extremists were defeated in their two major strongholds in Iraq and Syria, the number of militants remaining in the region continues to fall, according to the latest estimates from the anti-IS Global Coalition, like reported by basnews.com.

Colonel Ryan Dillon, the spokesperson for the Coalition, told military.com that the official estimate shows IS presence has significantly dwindled in Iraq and Syria.

“Up until today, we had an estimate of less than 3,000,” Dillon said Thursday. “But the latest estimate we got today was, there’s about 1,000 across Iraq and Syria,” he said.

The US-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), declared in October victory over IS in Raqqa, the group’s de facto capital, and earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi declared the end of IS in Iraq, saying that no major IS footholds remain in the country.

Artillery units of Hashd al-Shaabi, which is led and supported by the Islamic Republic of Iran, once again on Wednesday shelled Hanjira Mount and surrounding areas near Tuz Khurmatu, like reported by basnews.com.

Social activists said the Shi’ite militias had claimed the shelling was targeting armed groups in the area.

Since the Hashd al-shaabi and Iraqi troops have taken over Kirkuk, Tuz Khurmatu and other disputed Kurdish territories, bombardments on these areas takes place on daily basis. It has caused great panic among civilians.

However, the majority of the residents have already escaped their homes in the disputed Kurdish territories. Most of them are now residing in the Kurdistan Region.

Remaining locals have formed residence groups in the area to stand against Hashd al-Shaabi’s subversive actions at their homes.

The United Nations previously expressed concern over human rights abuses in Tuz Khurmatu. However, the violations not only continue up to the moment.

US Central Command officials announced that its forces have conducted multiple ground operations and more than 120 strikes this year to remove key leaders and disrupt the ability of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, like reported by wam.ae.

Efforts included the debilitation of Daesh-Yemen from the use of “ungoverned spaces in Yemen as a hub for terrorist recruiting, training, and base of operations to export terror worldwide,” the Pentagon said.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is one of the terrorist groups most committed to and capable of conducting attacks in America, as assessed by the intelligence and defence communities, the officials said, while intelligence estimates indicate that Daesh-Yemen has doubled in size over the past year.

In November, the US conducted 10 strikes across Yemen governorates Bayda and Marib, including a strike on Mujahid al-Adani, the Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Shabwah leader, who was killed on November 20th in Bayda.

Al-Adani, also known as Mohammad Shukri, was a senior leader responsible for planning and conducting terrorist attacks against Yemeni, coalition and tribal security forces. He exerted significant influence within Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s terrorist attack networks, similarly, maintained close ties and access to the group’s other senior leaders, and previously served as an Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula military leader in Aden, the Pentagon added.

Others Al Qaeda members killed in Yemen by US forces included Abu Layth al-Sanaani, Ruwahah al-Sanaani, and Ubaydah al-Lawdari, the Pentagon said.

Very little is written in Pakistan about the Zainebiyoun, a brigade comprising of Pakistani Shia fighters trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) and currently fighting for the Assad regime in Syria, like reported by aninews.in.

The recruits for the brigade are largely drawn from Shia Hazaras originally from Balochistan and the Shias of Parachinar and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

According to sources, the number of Pakistanis deployed in this brigade could be as high as 1000.

The brigade, named after Zainab, the granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad, has been largely operating in the Syrian cities of Damascus, Aleppo, Daraa and Hama. Their primary task is to protect Shia shrines from attacks of the ISIS.

Though the Zainebiyoun was formed around 2015, Pakistani Shias were being inducted into the Fatemiyoun from 2013 onwards.

The Fatemiyoun Division, comprising mainly of Afghan Shias, has been fighting alongside Syrian government forces against the ISIS from 2013 onwards. In fact, after the Hizbullah of Lebanon, the Fatemiyoun perhaps has the largest presence of foreign fighters in Syria, estimated to be 20,000 Afghan fighters.

Interviews of Afghan Shias who have returned to Afghanistan after serving in the Fatemiyoun in Syria, indicate that Iran provides military training to Afghan and Pakistani Shiites both in Iran and inside Syria. The IRGC reportedly provides a four-week, pre-deployment training to Zainebiyouan and Fatemiyoun combatants at ‘special training bases’ inside Iran. There are known to be nine such training camps in Iran. Each combatant is lured into this brigade with the hope of being granted a permanent residency of Iran, a hefty monthly pay of USD 1200 per month and payment for education of the combatants’ children, in case of his death.

As per accounts of active members of the Zainebiyoun, many of them were driven to join the brigade and take up the Shia cause outside their own country after they witnessed the persecution of Shias in Pakistan.

While the urban elite Shias remain unharmed because of their class and alignment with the Pakistani military establishment, the vast majority of the poor, disadvantaged Shia Muslims in Pakistan remain victims of frequent suicide attacks and target killing by ISI-sponsored groups like the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and other radical Sunni groups.

Iran has been using this sense of alienation among the middle class and poor Shias in Pakistan, to project itself as the sole protector of Shias worldwide. The arrival of the ISIS has allowed Iran to use its Shia militias to gain a foothold in several countries of the Middle East. There is little doubt that once the ISIS threat in Syria & Iraq is over, these militias or proxy armies will be used by Iran to further its geo-political ambitions in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

When Pakistani COAS Gen Qamar Bajwa visited Iran recently, it is unlikely that he considered it important to raise this issue with the Iranian leaders. However, if Iran’s proactive policy in the Middle East is any indication, Pakistan may soon have to deal with Iran trained Shia proxies in its western borders.

More than 100 Australian foreign fighters still remain overseas fighting in Syria and Iraq, as 40 have returned home, like reported by sbs.com.au

Sydney resident Belal Betka was charged with entering and remaining in the Syrian province of Al Raqqa in 2015.

In December 2014, the Minister for Foreign Affairs declared the Syrian province as an area where a listed terrorist organisation was engaging in hostile activity.

The declaration was revoked last month according to the federal government.

Counter-terrorism expert Clive Williams said the foreign fighter related charge is a win for the government.

“It’s proved very difficult in the past to put together charges for cases of people being in Syria,” he said.

“It will also perhaps worry many of the people that came back that they’re going to get a knock on the door and they’re going to be next on the list,” the Australian National University professor told SBS News.

The Department of Home Affairs has confirmed to SBS News up to 110 Australians are currently fighting or engaged with terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq.

About 40 people have returned to Australia after travelling to Syria or Iraq and joining groups involved in the conflict.

Professor Williams said Australia could expect more foreign fighters returning home.

“There will be a lot more people obviously leaving Syria over the next several months… many of them will be killed in Syria but many foreign fighters will make their way out and try to get home.”

What are the foreign fighter laws?

The foreign fighter laws make it an offence to:

• Enter a foreign country with an intent to engage in a hostile activity, unless serving in or with the armed forces of the government of a foreign country.

• Prepare to enter, or for another person to enter, a foreign country with an intention to engage in a hostile activity.

• Recruit persons to join an organisation engaged in hostile activities, or to serve in or with an armed force in a foreign country.

Australians who’ve intentionally travelled to “declared areas” and return home face a maximum of 10 years in jail.

The foreign affairs minister will mark an area a “declared area” if they’re satisfied that a listed terror group is engaging in “hostile activity in that area”.

Those who are linked to listed terrorist groups face up to 25 years in jail. That could include fighting for, recruiting, training and gaining or dealing with funds for the group.

Salakhuddin Shishani, a high-ranking Chechen Al-Qaeda leader, was killed on Sunday by a Russian airstrike near Zaleen in northern Hama province, like reported by almasdarnews.com.

Shashani, self-declared Emir of Jaish Usro and former top man in terrorist organisations Imarat Kavkaz v Shame and Jaish Muhajireen wal Ansar, is widely considered to have been the single most important foreign fighter within Al-Qaeda in Syria.

His organisation, Jaish Usro, consisted mostly of Chechen and other North Caucasian terrorists, and was part of the Al-Qaeda affiliated Hayyat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) organisation.

The northern Hama governorate of Syria was the scene of heavy battles on Sunday, after a mass assault of HTS forces on the city of Zallaqiyat was thwarted, and responded to by very intense bombing runs by Russian Aerospace Forces on Al-Qaeda positions near Lataminah and surroundings.