Pakistan has confirmed it's part of a Saudi-led "Islamic military alliance" against terrorism in but remained vague about when exactly it joined up, AP reports.
AP quotes Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman, Qazi Khalilullah, as telling reporters "yes,we're part of it" when asked about the alliance.
Khalilullah denied yesterday's media reports that claimed Pakistan was "surprised" to hear that it was a member of the 34-nation alliance announced by Saudi Arabia earlier this week.
Iran's Mashregh News, which has ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), tweets that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is set to visit Tehran in early January to discuss the Syrian crisis.
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is to travel to Moscow for talks with Russian officials on December 20 and 21 to coordinate efforts to defeat the IS group, his office has announced.
"On December 20 and 21 Mr Le Drian will go to Russia to discuss coordination in the fight against [IS], defense ministry spokesman Pierre Bayle told a press conference today.
The United States and its allies on Wednesday conducted 18 air strikes against the IS group in Iraq and Syria in its latest round of daily air attacks against the militant group, the U.S.-led coalition has said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter returned to Iraq today for a day of meetings with Kurdish officials and for briefings about the fight against the IS group in northern Iraq, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Carter was briefed on a significant battle between IS and Kurdish militias that took place on December 16 when IS launched three separate offensives north and east of the IS-controlled city of Mosul. The Peshmerga pushed IS back, and coalition airstrikes killed some 180 IS militants, a senior military officer said.
Journalist Roozbeh Kaboly from Dutch National Television's Nieuwsuur has shared photographs taken just kilometers from the front line with IS near Palmyra in Syria.
Kaboly was on the Syrian-held side of the front line very close to the IS-held city.
A Moscow court has extended the arrest of a Moscow University student accused of trying to join the IS group in Syria, until March 27.
Karaulova has been remanded in custody since her arrest on October 28. Her alleged recruiter was arrested on October 27.
Karaulova left home on May 27 and flew to Turkey. On June 4 she was arrested alongside 12 other Russians while attempting to cross the border into Syria.
Italian Justice Minister Andrea Orlando received two Kalashnikov bullets and a threatening letter on Thursday, written in Arabic and purporting to be from Islamic State, a ministry spokeswoman said.
She said the letter was signed "ISIS", another acronym for the IS group.
The letter was delivered to the Justice Ministry in Rome and said, "we will come to Rome and cut off your head. God is great."
Another member of Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, a Syrian activist group that reports on the activities of the IS group in its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa, has been murdered, the BBC reports.
Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently said Ahmad Mohammed al-Mousa was killed by a group of masked men in the rebel-held city of Idlib yesterday.
The group have no further details, but at least two other members have been killed by IS militants since 2014.
From our newsroom:
U.S., Russia Drafting New UN Resolution Against IS Financing
WASHINGTON -- The United States and Russia are working together on a new United Nations Security Council resolution aimed at putting further pressure on the finances of Islamic State (IS) militants.
Adam Szubin, the acting U.S. undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the resolution will "fully criminalize" terror financing and is modeled along the lines of those that targeted Al-Qaeda finances after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.
He said IS, which holds vast territories in Syria and Iraq, receives about $400 million a year from selling oil and gas.
Asked about Russia's recent charges that Turkey buys oil from IS, Szubin said "we don't see any evidence that the Turkish government is purchasing oil from [IS]."
Szubin said a U.S. raid in May that targeted a senior IS commander helped refine U.S. air strikes to target the group's oil and gas production.
Jets and missiles have hit oil wells, tanker trucks, and small refineries in the area.