United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned on August 16 of an unprecedented "humanitarian catastrophe" in Syria's Aleppo and urged Russia and the United States to quickly reach a deal on a ceasefire in the city and elsewhere in the country.

The United Arab Emirates' Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on August 16 it has received 15 detainees from Guantanamo Bay for humanitarian reasons.

Russia used Iran on August 16 for the first time as a base from which to launch air strikes against Syrian militants, widening its air campaign in Syria and deepening its involvement in the Middle East.

Russia and the United States are close to starting joint military action against militants in Syria's Aleppo, Russian news agencies on August 15 quoted Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying.

A Saudi-led coalition air strike hit a hospital operated by Medecins Sans Frontieres in northern Yemen on August 15, killing at least 11 people and wounding 19, the aid group said.

US officials said on August 15, 15 inmates from the Guantanamo prison were transferred to the United Arab Emirates, the single largest transfer of Guantanamo detainees during President Barack Obama's administration.

Kurdish Peshmerga forces launched a fresh attack on Islamic State (IS) forces early on August 14 as part of a campaign to capture Mosul, the militants' de facto capital in Iraq, Kurdish officials said.

The U.S. drone strike that killed Islamic State's commander for Afghanistan and Pakistan was the latest blow to the Middle East-led movement's ambitions to expand into a region where the long-established Taliban remain the dominant Islamist force.

Heavy fighting took place in different sectors of the Syrian city of Aleppo on August 14 as rebels assaulted two government strongholds in the city's northwest and south, a monitor of the war said.

Fidel Castro made a rare public appearance on August 13 at his 90th birthday gala, after the leader of the 1959 revolution thanked fellow Cubans for their well wishes and lambasted his old foe the United States in a column carried by state-run media.