New Zealand troops are preparing for a two-year tour in Iraq to help the fight against Islamic State. This is what they are up against.

Soldiers may be excused from going to train Iraqi forces in fight against Isis, for personal reasons. The Defence Force says it is part of being a "good employer".

The unmasking of Isis militant "Jihadi John" as a Londoner who had repeatedly been questioned by security services has sent shock waves through Britain.

Many times over the years we've been aware that people in a foreign country are going through hell, John Roughan writes.

Asim Qureshi has caused outrage by saying the murderer Jihadi John was 'beautiful' adding that he 'wouldn't hurt a fly'.

The Isis executioner known as 'Jihadi John' was today named as a graduate from London who was able to flee to Syria despite being on a terror watch list.

The decision to commit NZ military contingent to Iraq is a case of misguided foreign policy.

Edmund Burke once said political decisions often involve a choice between intolerable and disagreeable options.

Prime Minister John Key has defended his angry counter-attack in Parliament after Opposition parties' criticised the decision to send troops to the Middle East.

NZ soldiers training Iraqi troops near Baghdad will not be taking a "them-and-us" view of the Iraqis but a partnership approach.

No New Zealand government should commit troops to a war zone without a clear awareness of the ramifications. In the case of the fight against the Islamic State.

The deployment of 106 Defence Force personnel to a military base in Iraq will include just 16 trainers, the New Zealand Defence Force chief confirmed yesterday.

Lieutenant General Tim Keating, says New Zealand troops deployed to Iraq will have force protection for self defence and and all forces will be armed.

Sending troops to Iraq not unethical but duplicity, anger and hatred in Middle East may crush New Zealand's efforts, writes law professor Alexander Gillespie.

The headteacher of the school attended by three British schoolgirls who are believed to have flown to Turkey to join Isis in Syria reiterated yesterday that police have no evidence the missing pupils had been radicalised there.

The father of one of three schoolgirls who are believed to have travelled to Syria to join Isis says her siblings "cannot stop crying".

NZ doesn't have a 'realistic option of doing nothing' in the fight against Isis, PM John Key says ahead of Cabinet's decision on whether to send troops to Iraq.

When Isis took over Raqqa, a wave of black swept over the city. It's turned into a grim prison for residents - with no escape in sight.

Tony Abbott has flagged shifting the balance between upholding individual rights and ensuring community protection following a report into the Sydney cafe siege.

Three British "jihadi brides" who ran away from home to join fighters from Isis were believed to have crossed the Turkish border into Syria.

Isis has threatened to flood Europe with half a million migrants from Libya in a 'psychological' attack against the West.

Militants from Isis have burned 45 people to death in the western Iraqi town of al-Baghdadi, according to the local police chief.

A New York court has heard how Pakistani man Abid Naseer allegedly plotted attacks in Britain, Denmark and the US and was part of an al-Qaeda infiltration of the West.

The film clip of Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee striding into the bowels of the $250 million Boeing C-17 Globemaster for a test drive this week was scary.