An Afghan official says that a policeman with links to the Taliban has killed three of his fellow police officers at a checkpoint in northern Balkh province.

An Egyptian court has sentenced six people to death on terror-related charges for carrying out a militant attack outside a hotel near the famed Giza Pyramids.

Egyptian security and medical officials say an explosion in a town in restive northern Sinai Peninsula has killed at least nine people of the same family.

It was not immediately clear what the source of the explosion was, but no U.S. troops were injured or killed, according to officials. The military is investigating whether indirect fire, such as artillery or rockets, was the cause and who may have fired on the U.S. position if so.

The new deployment largely consists of fighter jets and air defense capabilities and follows the deployment of other troops last month to bolster Saudi defenses after September attacks that devastated two key Saudi oil facilities.

Reporter’s Notebook

Servicemembers and others from the U.S. and elsewhere can spend months, if not years, in the Middle East without ever discovering life outside military bases. Owner Riza Rahmdel wants the BAF Cafe at Bagram Airfield to “create cultural awareness” of Afghan life.

The operation, led by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Frank Cocciolillo, was a team-building opportunity for the unit, which supports the Jordan Armed Forces Joint Training Center in Amman.

On Saturday, as 300 planes were up in the air in key areas such as Syria, Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf, hundreds of seats at the combined air and space operations center at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar sat empty.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper “strongly encouraged” Turkey’s defense minister to stop its incursion into northeastern Syria during a call Thursday, saying the operation “risks serious consequences for Turkey,” according to a Pentagon statement released Friday.

U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe the evolving U.S. strategy in Syria, said the Pentagon did not have enough forces to oversee the prisons if Islamic State prisons in Syria were left unguarded, nor a mandate to do so.

The soldiers of Special Operations Task Force 102 received five Silver Star medals, seven Bronze Star medals with Valor devices, 15 Army Commendation medals with Valor devices and 21 Purple Hearts in one deployment.

A top Al-Qaida commander was killed in a raid by Afghan forces last month, Afghan intelligence officials said Tuesday, in an operation backed by U.S. airstrikes that also killed tens of civilians.

Turkish forces faced fierce resistance from U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish fighters on the third day of Ankara's offensive in northern Syria, as casualties mounted, international criticism of the campaign intensified and estimates put the number of those who fled the violence at 100,000.

The increase in bombing followed the collapse of peace talks between the United States and the Taliban in early September and a vow by President Donald Trump “to hit our enemy harder” than ever before.

First introduced in 2008 as part of a uniform modernization program based on sailor input, the blue camouflage uniform was intended to be worn by enlisted and officers to “project a unified image/appearance regardless of rank.”

Turkey launched airstrikes, fired artillery and began a ground offensive against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria on Wednesday after U.S. troops pulled back from the area, paving the way for an assault on forces that have long been allied with the United States.

“Hire Military Heroes” targets servicemembers considering a transition back to civilian life via a web application that visitors are encouraged to download. However, the app actually drops malicious malware and spyware into the users’ computer system.

Iran said Friday two missiles struck one of its oil tankers traveling through the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia, a mysterious assault not immediately corroborated that still spiked oil prices amid months of heightened tensions at sea across the wider Mideast.

A Taliban spokesman is apparently carefully following President Donald Trump's comments even though the U.S. leader declared last month that the talks between an American peace envoy and the insurgents were "dead.

Analysis

The 60,000-fighter force, which was the core ground force in the US-backed campaign against Islamic State militants, may have to fight to its last soldier. In the war with ISIS, it lost 11,000 fighters.

Calling Turkey's military incursion into northern Syria a "bad idea," President Donald Trump on Wednesday still defended his decision to pull back U.S. troops from the region expressing his desire to disentangle U.S. forces from the "fighting between various groups that has been going on for hundreds of years."

As Turkish troops invade northern Syria and the U.S. abandons its Kurdish allies, there are renewed fears of a prison break in a camp that is home to tens of thousands of ISIS-linked women and their children.

Amid the fierce fighting, residents fled with their belongings loaded into cars, pickup trucks and motorcycle rickshaws, while others escaped on foot. It was a wrenchingly familiar scene for many who had fled the militants of the Islamic State group only a few years ago.

The move, a rare instance in which the United States has taken direct responsibility for Islamic State prisoners in Iraq and Syria, comes as U.S. officials scramble to ensure that Turkey's unfolding military operation does not permit the Islamic State to regain strength.

Turkey said Tuesday it will go ahead with a military operation in northeastern Syria and won't bow to threats over its Syria plans, an apparent reply to U.S. President Donald Trump's warning to limit the scope of its expected assault.

The divided U.N. Security Council failed to agree on Turkey's offensive in northeast Syria on Thursday, with Europeans demanding a halt to military action and Syrian ally Russia calling for "restraint" and "direct dialogue" between the two countries.

The U.S. and Turkey conducted their third joint ground patrol in Syria on Friday even as disagreements between the two NATO allies over how to operate in the area have brought threats from Turkish leaders to launch a unilateral military intervention on its southern border.

The U.S. will hand over to Iraqi authorities nearly 50 Islamic State members who were transferred from Syria, two Iraqi intelligence officials said Thursday. The officials said the ISIS members were expected to be handed over by Friday.

Analysis

Iraq has been plunged into a new cycle of instability that potentially could be the most dangerous this conflict-scarred nation has faced, barely two years after declaring victory over the Islamic State group in a war that left much of the country in ruins and displaced tens of thousands.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Monday he and Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen will introduce bipartisan sanctions against Turkey if it crosses the Syrian border and attacks Kurdish forces, after President Donald Trump said late Sunday that he was withdrawing U.S. troops from the border region.

Analysis

Syrians are fleeing by the tens of thousands yet again, a recurring nightmare of hastily packed bags, traffic-clogged highways and an uncertain fate.

Turkey's president threatened Saturday to launch a military operation into northeastern Syria, where U.S. troops are deployed and have been trying to defuse tensions between Washington's two allies — Turkey and the Syrian Kurds.

The report, released simultaneously in Kabul and Geneva, said the U.N. verified 39 civilian casualties, including 14 children and a woman, from multiple airstrikes in May on more than 60 sites. The U.S. military found fault with the report's verification methods and denied there were civilians among the dead.

A 7-minute helicopter trip with Embassy Air in Afghanistan costs nearly $1,500, while a 1-hour plane journey in Iraq is priced at nearly $4,800, the report by the State Department Inspector General said.

Preparing for her husband’s burial at Arlington National Cemetery, Sgt. 1st Class Elis A. Barreto Ortiz’s widow said she had only begun to grieve since his death earlier this month on his second deployment to Afghanistan.

Syria’s Kurds accused the U.S. of turning its back on its allies and risking gains made in the fight against Islamic State militants as American troops began pulling back on Monday from positions in northeastern Syria ahead of an expected Turkish assault.

America's Syrian Kurdish allies are at risk of losing control of the vast camp where the families of the Islamic State's defeated fighters are being detained as militant women increasingly assert their dominance over the camp, according to the top Kurdish military commander.

A year after a U.S.-based company signed contracts to mine for gold and copper in Afghanistan, work still hasn’t begun amid fears of insecurity and with allegations of corruption still dogging the company.

Security forces opened fire directly at hundreds of anti-government demonstrators Friday in central Baghdad, killing at least 10 protesters and injuring dozens, hours after Iraq's top Shiite cleric warned both sides to end four days of violence "before it's too late."

The conflict between Iran and the U.S. that has created tensions throughout much of the Middle East is now also being felt in Lebanon, where Washington has slapped sanctions on the Iran-backed Hezbollah and warned they could soon expand to its allies, further deepening the tiny Arab country’s economic crisis.

The U.S. special representative for Afghanistan has met with Taliban leadership for the first time since peace talks between the two sides were declared "dead" by President Donald Trump last month, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Pakistan's already powerful military is taking an even greater role in running the country as the economy stumbles.

A U.S. airstrike in central Afghanistan on Saturday killed several civilians, local residents and officials said, marking the latest incident this month in which American forces have been accused of killing noncombatants in the country.

The United States military launched its third air strike in Libya in a week, killing 17 Islamic State-aligned terrorists in the country’s southwest, U.S. Africa Command said Friday.

Sgt. 1st Class Jeremy W. Griffin, 40, of Greenbrier, Tenn., died in action Monday in Wardak province.

The killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul last year drew renewed scrutiny Tuesday to the kingdom, as his son and a U.N. investigator spoke out ahead of the anniversary of his death.

Iraqi security forces clashed with anti-government protesters in the capital and other provinces Tuesday, killing two people and injured more than 200, according to officials.

A U.S. Air Force civilian who died this week in a noncombat incident at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar was identified Friday as 32-year-old intelligence analyst Jason P. Zaki.

Saudi Arabia will drop its strict dress code for foreign women as it seeks for the first time to lure tourists and the spending that could help develop the kingdom's economy away from its reliance on oil.

Afghans are preparing to vote this weekend in their country’s fourth presidential election since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001, amid threats of violence from insurgent groups.

At least seven people were killed and dozens were wounded in clashes in Iraq on Wednesday as security forces fired live ammunition and tear gas for the second day to disperse anti-government protesters demanding jobs, improved services and an end to corruption.

The Defense Department announced the deployment Thursday, about one week after the Pentagon announced more troops would be sent to the Middle East as a direct result of the Sept. 14 drone and cruise missile attack on Saudi Arabia.

Egypt released and deported two foreign nationals, a Mauritanian and a Dutch citizen, who were arrested amid a recent crackdown following anti-government protests, Cairo airport officials and a European diplomat said Friday.

The Palestinian Authority has agreed to accept hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues collected by Israel months after declining them in protest because Israel was withholding an amount equal to what the Palestinians pay to the families of prisoners and those killed in the conflict, including slain militants.

Schools and businesses in Arab towns and villages were closed following a call by Arab leaders, and newly elected Arab members of Israel’s parliament skipped the swearing-in out of solidarity.

There's growing speculation the Iranian-flagged oil supertanker that was previously detained off Gibraltar is about to offload its cargo onto a smaller vessel.

Iran President Hassan Rouhani gave an upbeat assessment of a European plan to ease the crisis over the 2015 nuclear deal that has threatened to tip the Gulf region into war.

The Taliban announced Wednesday they are sending a high-level delegation to Pakistan's capital as part of a tour that has included Russia, China and Iran in a push to resurrect an Afghanistan peace deal with Washington that seemed imminent just a month ago.

A statement from NATO’s Kabul-based Resolute Support mission said the servicemembers suffered “non-life-threatening injuries,” and the attacker, an Afghan Civil Order police officer, was killed in the incident.

Iran has sentenced one person to death and three others to 10 years in prison on accusations of spying for the U.S. and Britain, the state-run judicial news agency reported Monday.

Egypt displayed a gilded ancient coffin from the first century B.C. on Tuesday, which New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art returned last week after U.S. investigators determined it to be a looted antiquity.

The U.S. military was under fire Thursday from Afghan officials who said an American drone strike in Nangarhar province had killed at least 30 people and wounded more than 40 others. The U.S. military said claims of civilian casualties were being investigated.

On Saturday morning, as many Afghans in the capital stayed home, perhaps fearful of a Taliban attack or tired of seeing past votes do little to improve the lives of ordinary Afghans, Murtaza voted for the first time in his life.

It appears Israel has expanded a program in which it had long provided hundreds of permits to business owners to travel to Israel and the West Bank for commerce. Palestinian officials say it is now providing some 5,000 so-called merchant permits and awarding them to Palestinians working as laborers.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said he gets "all the responsibility" for the killing of royal court critic and Washington Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi, but denied he had any prior knowledge of the plan to kill the journalist, according to a soon to air PBS Frontline documentary.