Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)

ISIL, radical Islamists who want to re-create a mediaeval-style caliphate straddling Iraq and Syria, has stormed largely unopposed across much of northern Iraq

Another 50 U.S. special operations forces have arrived in Baghdad under the newly appointed command of a two-star general

The Iraqi government, led by Muslim Shiites with close ties to Iran, has waged an aggressive campaign against the spy agency

The fighting threatens to rupture the country two and a half years after the end of U.S. occupation

"The Sunni tribes will come out on top. It's their country. They have something to fight for."

The Middle East is engulfed in chaos, with Al-Qaeda and its radical Sunni offshoots metastasizing and on the march

Victims include a number of confirmed summary executions committed by forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)

Kerry's visit came after Sunni militants took strongholds along the border with Syria at the weekend, strengthening their supply routes

The ISIL gave children weapons training in Syria and told them to carry out suicide bombings, the report said

With the defection of key Sunni allies in the ISIL offensive, sources have dried up and the agency is struggling for intelligence

The sprawling Baiji refinery was a battlefield as troops loyal to the Shi'ite-led government held off insurgents from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said, " the big Iranian nation will not hesitate to protect holy shrines," as the ISIL advanced

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), defied al Qaeda leadership to create his army

As Islamist fighters close in on Baghdad, Iraq's premier is pressed to reform—or resign.

ISIL fighters have been joined by other armed Sunni groups who oppose what they say is oppression by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called the advance of militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) an "existential threat" for Iraq

The stunning onslaught by militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant threatens to dismember Iraq and unleash all-out sectarian warfare across a crescent of the Middle East

An offensive by insurgents that threatens to dismember Iraq seemed to slow after days of lightning advances

With Iraq facing the prospect of all-out sectarian warfare, U.S. politicians argue over whose failure it is

If the Islamists win in Iraq, another Iran-Iraq War is in the cards

The central government's army abandoned its posts in a rapid collapse that has lost it control of the north.

Sunni rebels from an al Qaeda splinter group overran the Iraqi city of Tikrit on Wednesday and closed in on the biggest oil refinery in the country

Thousands of families were fleeing north from Mosul, one of the great historic cities of the Middle East

Militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and their allies overran a military base and freed hundreds of prisoners