Almost 4,000 Christian families were among the first to flee the latest surge of Islamic State violence in the city of Hasakah, in north-eastern Syria.
Islamic State fighters launched simultaneous attacks against the Syrian army and Kurdish militiaovernight, moving back on the offensive after losing ground in recent days to Kurdish-led forces in the Islamist group's stronghold of Raqqa province.
Having looted and pillaged ancient heritage sites across Iraq and Syria, Islamic State is now believed to be selling stolen artefacts on social media sites.
Hundreds of thousands of Christians have been forced to flee Iraq as Islamic State continues to tighten its grip, but still people are turning to Jesus, a church leader has told Christian Today.
Britain is to expand its military training mission inIraq in the coming weeks, Prime Minister David Cameron announced on Sunday, saying the Iraqi army needed more help to deal with improvised bombs planted by Islamic State militants.
The Syrian army said on Sunday it had repulsed a major offensive by Islamic State militants in the northeastern city of Hasaka and drove out fighters who had taken over key installations on the southern edge of the city.
Islamic State militants have used chlorine as a weapon and are recruiting highly trained technicians in a serious bid to develop chemical weapons, Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop warned.