U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter has called for U.S. allies to step up actions against IS and said that Russia should "get on the right side" of the fight, AFP reports.
Carter made his comments at a Congressional hearing where he discussed increased military efforts against IS by the United States following the attacks in Paris and California.
Check out RFE/RL's infographic exploring where IS oil ends up.
Ethnic Chechens living in the town of Ras al-Ayn and ethnic Ingush from Al-Safih in Syria's Hasakah province have called on North Caucasians not to fight alongside the IS group, the Caucasian Knot news website reports.
The first ethnic Chechen refugees settled in the town in 1864 following Russian invasions. After that, thousands of ethnic Vainakhs -- who include Chechens and Ingush -- settled in the area along the Syria-Turkey border.
Some ethnic North Caucasians in Syria are fighting in rebels groups, including a group of ethnic Circassians from Syria who are fighting alongside the Chechen-led Ajnad al-Kavkaz group in Latakia.
The United States is prepared to provide the Iraqi army with attack helicopters and additional military advisers in the fight to retake the city of Ramadi in western Iraq from IS militants, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has said
This just in from AFP:
Russia is trying to carry out "ethnic cleansing" of Turkoman rebels in Syria's Latakia province, Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in a meeting today with Western reporters in Istanbul.
Turkomans are ethnic Turks who live in Syria.
Davutoglu also accused Russia of strengthening the IS group.
"Russia is trying to make ethnic cleansing in northern Latakia to force all Turkmen and Sunni population who do not have good relations with the regime, they want to expel them, they want to ethnically cleanse this area so that regime and Russian bases in Latakia and Tartus are protected," Davutoglu said according to Reuters.
Iraqi forces have "cemented their hold on newly gained territory in Ramadi" today, AFP reports, after taking a large part of the city from IS militants yesterday.
Elite Iraqi troops backed by close air cover from the U.S.-led coalition, retook the southwestern Ramadi neighborhood of Al-Tameem yesterday.
There are reports that Abu Mohammed al-Julani, the leader of Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate the Al-Nusra Front, is to appear in a press conference soon.
While Iraqi forces make gains against IS in Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's Anbar province, civilians trapped in the city say conditions there have deteriorated as IS militants become increasingly paranoid.
IS want to use them as human shields, civilians told Reuters.
“Daesh [IS] fighters are becoming more hostile and suspicious. They prevent us from leaving houses. Everyone who goes out against orders is caught and investigated," said Abu Ahmed.
"We feel we’re living inside a sealed casket."
The U.S.-led anti-IS coalition says it has destroyed or damaged 399 IS targets from December 1 through December 7, and has included an infographic.