The BBC's Lyse Doucet says that some hundred families and 300 rebels are leaving the Al-Waer neighborhood of Syria's Homs today as part of a cease fire deal with Bashar al-Assad's government,
The IS group has claimed responsibility for this morning's suicide attack outside a Shi'ite mosque in the Obeidi district of Baghdad, according to the SITE Intelligence group.
IS claims that its "Baghdad province" targeted a gathering of Shi'ite militia fighters from teh Saraya al-Salam brigades.
Lavrov: U.S., Allies Attempting To Play 'Sectarian Card' In Syria
Pro-Kremlin news site RIA Novosti has more from Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's comments to the Italian media today on Syria.
Lavrov warned the United States and its allies about "playing the religious-sectarian card in Syria."
"The constant refrain that we hear including from our American partners about how the vast majority of the population [in Syria] are Sunnis and don't accept Assad as a represenative of the minority [Alawite] regime, you know, this stinks of not very conscientious efforts to play the sectarian card in the Syrian conflict," Lavrov said.
"In the first place, this is unethical. And second, this is politically very explosive. We were the first to emphasize the need to avoid steps that would one way or another heat up an already significant conflict in the Muslim world. And we are still confident that only by calling Muslims to unity, to overcome their internal sectarian conflicts, can we ensure a stable and long lasting peace."
Dozens of people have been killed and wounded in an overnight attack by Taliban militants on the airport in the southern city of Kandahar.
At least 37 civilians and members of the Afghan security forces have been killed and 35 wounded, the defense ministry has said. Nine Taliban militants have been killed.
Turkey's military says it has carried out aerial raids on suspected Kurdish rebel targets in a new cross-border offensive in northern Iraq, AP reports.
A brief statement said that the raids had destroyed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) targets in four areas of northern Iraq.
Today's strikes are the first since tensions began between Turkey and Iraq at the weekend over Turkey's deployment of troops near the IS-controlled northern Iraqi city of Mosul for a training mission.
AFP has more on the reports that a suicide bomber has killed eight people this morning near a Shi'ite mosque in eastern Baghdad.
Security and medical officials say the blast in the Obeidi area has wounded at least 19 people.
AFP notes that while no group has yet claimed responsibility, in Iraq suicide bombings are a tactic used almost exclusively by the IS group.
Lavrov: Those Who Call For Assad To Step Down Are Strengthening IS
Those nations calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down are indirectly contributing to the strengthening of the IS group, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said according to pro-Kremlin news site RIA Novosti.
"If the problem of Assad remains an artificial obstacle to the creation of a universal anti-terror coalition, then those who are insisting on that, I have no other way to put this, they will indirectly strengthen the conditions for IS to grow," Lavrov told the Italian media today.
"We need to abandon double standards and preconditions. If one of the members of the American coalition [against IS] has a personal antipathy to President Assad, then these personal reasons must still be subordinate to the fight against terrorism, which already poses a real threat, is killing people, Russians and Europeans and Americans and citizens of regional countries."
"IS is not Islam," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said today in comments criticizing remarks by Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump on Muslims.
Trump says the United States should stop Muslims entering the country.
Speaking from Paris, Kerry said that there are "courageous Muslims around the world" who are standing up to the IS group.
A suicide bomber has reportedly killed eight people near a Shi'ite mosque in Baghdad, Iraq, AFP have just reported.
Busloads of Syrians -- families and rebel fighters -- have left Al-Waer, the last rebel-held neighborhood of Homs today as part of a local truce agreement between the Syrian government and rebels.
The rebels and their families are being moved to rebel-held areas near the Turkish border.
Witnesses saw 15 buses leave the area, Reuters reports.
The Homs Media Center, a pro-opposition citizen journalist group, posted this video showing families and rebels boarding a bus in Al-Waer this morning.