Latest: Second suspect named as footage emerges of pair being shot by police

Islamists had for a while been uploading video footage on the internet of prisoners being beheaded by their captors. It was most prevalent in Iraq and has spread to other parts of the world where ferocious jihad was being waged.

Sunday’s reports that the Syrian conflict was spilling over into Lebanon can be taken as further evidence that the sectarian civil war is destabilising the region. There are also signs that the unending strife is pushing the two players who really matter, America and Russia, towards trying for negotiations and a ceasefire based on the Geneva Accord signed last June.

Kim Sengupta hears how a group he saw as moderates has been pushed to extremes

British troops are going to have their tours in Afghanistan lengthened by half while the exit strategy from the 12-year-old war is underway, the Defence Secretary Philip Hammond announced today.

As David Cameron and  Vladimir Putin promise to work together on Syria, our Correspondent, who has reported from the front line, assesses the options

Iraqi journalist Nour al-Khal was shot and dumped in a road for her reporting in Basra

Pilot formed ‘historic link’ to Commonwealth volunteers, often seen as airbrushed from history

UK will also contribute to a £50 million international fund for the state

With the second strike in three days, Israeli involvement in bloody civil war deepens