President Barack Obama and Singapore's prime minister on August 2 made sales pitches for a Pacific Rim trade deal that both U.S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have derided and that has been stalled in Congress.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) fired a ballistic missile on August 3 from its western region into the sea off its east coast, the Republic of Korea (RoK)'s military said, the latest in a series of launches in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.

A Russian military helicopter was shot down in Syria's rebel-held Idlib province on August 1 killing all five people on board, in the biggest officially acknowledged loss of life for Russian forces since they started operations in Syria.

America's highest-ranking military officer sought on August 1 to soothe strained ties with NATO ally Turkey, which was angered by the West's response to a failed military coup and an apparent US reluctance to hand over the cleric it says was responsible.

US planes bombed Islamic State targets in Libya on August 1, responding to the UN-backed government's request to help push the militants from their former stronghold of Sirte in what US officials described as the start of a sustained campaign against the extremist group in the city.

Turkey's defense ministry has changed the jobs of 167 generals within the army, following sweeping changes to the structure of the military over the weekend after this month's failed coup.

Syrian rebel fighters launched on July 31 a major assault on government-held southwestern parts of Aleppo in the first major drive to regain ground after major losses last week when the army and its allies tightened its siege of opposition-held parts of the northern city.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for a truck bomb attack on a military and logistics services compound, mainly used by foreigners, in Kabul early on August 1 after a powerful explosion was heard all around the city.

Turkey dismissed nearly 1,400 more members of its armed forces and stacked the top military council with government ministers on July 31, moves designed by President Tayyip Erdogan to put him in full control of the military after a failed coup.

Turkey will shut down its military academies and put the armed forces under the command of the defense minister, President Tayyip Erdogan said on July 30 in a move designed to bring the military under tighter government control after a failed coup.