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Soldiers of the Hashd al-Sha'abi (Popular Mobilization Units) wave the victory sign onboard a pickup truck on their way to Tal Afar airport on November 20, 2016. (Photos by AFP) Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units have blocked the escape of around 200 Daesh terrorists who were attempting to flee the city of Tal Afar and enter Syria. On Monday, PMU spokesman Ahmed al-Assadi told reporters that the terrorists were using tanks in their attempt to escape Tal Afar, which is located to the west of Mosul. "The attack by the Daesh terrorist gangs started at around 7:00 pm (1600 GMT)” and lasted for around six hours, he said. PMU forces, also known as Hashd al-Sha'abi, have been stationed around Mosul since October 17, when Iraq launched massive operations to retake the city from Daesh. The coalition of anti-terror forces have so far fully liberated the eastern half of the flashpoint city -- home to more than one million people -- and are gearing up to liberate its western side.

Russian special forces arrived in the western countryside of Palmyra on Saturday evening and are expected to help Syrian forces retake the ancient city in the coming days The (second) fall of Palmyra to ISIS came as a shock to almost everyone. (We are not trained in military matters, but apparently the major takeaway from this catastrophe is: controlling the high ground around Palmyra is the key to controlling the actual city.) There's no dispute that Palmyra has been a major embarrassment for Russia. The liberation of the city was supposed to symbolize the effectiveness of Russian/Syrian/Iranian military cooperation and signal a turning point in the war. Assad needed to take Palmyra to convince his people that the fight for Syria wasn't futile. Putin needed it to show the Russian people that the military operations in Syria were producing results. A convoy of Russian special forces arrived in the western countryside of Palmyra on Saturday evening after traveling from the