Portal:Current events/2017 August 20

Current events of August 20, 2017 (2017-08-20) (Sunday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Iraqi Civil War
  • Tal Afar offensive (2017)
    • Iraqi security forces, along with Shi'ite volunteers and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, launch a ground offensive to take the city of Tal Afar back from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants. Tal Afar has been isolated from the rest of the ISIL-held territory since the recent Mosul liberation. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)
• War in Syria
  • A rocket hits and injures several people at the Damascus International Fair. (Daily Mail)

Disasters and accidents

• An explosion at a South Korean shipyard owned by STX Offshore & Shipbuilding kills four workers. (Reuters via The Australian)

Politics and elections

• Iranian MPs approved 16 out of 17 cabinet members nominated by recently re-elected President Hassan Rouhani. (Washington Post)