From our news desk:
Humanitarian Aid To Enter Besieged Syrian Towns
Humanitarian aid will enter the besieged Syrian town of Madaya, where aid groups say residents are starving to death.
Emergency food supplies had been due to be sent to the rebel-held town on January 10 but the operation was delayed.
The International Committee of the Red Cross in Syria said aid would arrive in Madaya and two northern towns besieged by rebels, Foua and Kefraya, on January 11.
There are about 40,000 people in Madaya, near Lebanon's border, with residents said to be eating pets and grass to survive.
The medical charity Doctor Without Borders (MSF) warned that Madaya needed a constant supply of aid, not just a single delivery.
MSF warned on January 10 that residents were suffering from continuing starvation and shortages of medical supplies.
LIbyan news websites are also reporting this morning the unconfirmed reports from residents of Sirte that unidentified planes bombed IS positions in the Sirte area.
One Libyan Twitter account posted an image claiming to show one of the strikes. The image has not been verified.
The Financial Times this morning writes that Libya has reached its most critical juncture since the fall of Muammar Qaddafi.
Noting last week's attacks by the IS group on Libya's oil export terminals of Sidra and Ras Lanuf and the deadly IS truck bombing in Zliten, the FT says that IS's further expansion would threaten Libya's future oil production capacity.
Further expansion of Isis in Libya would increase the risk of long-term impairment to Libya’s production and export capacity through infrastructure damage. In this scenario, the integrity and independence of key institutions such as the National Oil Company could be put at risk as the rival governments continue to fight over Libya’s diminishing wealth, leading to further disruptions to oil production.
The ICRC Twitter account says that its teams are headed with aid to three towns in Syria: Madaya, Foua and Kefraya.
Madaya is a rebel-controlled town near Damascus and is under a government siege since July where opposition activists say people are starving.
Foua and Kefraya are two Shi'ite villages further north, which have been under a siege by rebel forces -- including Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate the Al-Nusra Front -- for even longer. Reports say residents there have resorted to eating grass.
A BBC video tweeted this morning shows the initial movements of a Red Cross and UN convoy setting out for the besieged Syrian town of Madaya to bring desperately needed aid supplies.
The BBC reports that the emergency food supplies were set to be sent to Madaya, which is in the hands of rebel groups and which is thought to have a current population of 40,000 people, on January 10 but were delayed.
In Iraq's Ramadi, where Iraqi forces -- assisted by close air support from the U.S.-led coalition -- have claimed victory against the IS group, efforts to rebuild the city are being hampered by the boobytraps left by IS militants in streets and buildings.
IS's 'Little London' In Syria's Aleppo Province
The Telegraph is reporting this morning about the IS-controlled town of Manbij in northern Syria, which has gained the unfortunate nickname "Little London" because it drew so many British foreign fighters seeking to join the IS group.
As many as 100 Britons have lived in Manbij in the last year, residents have told the Telegraph. An estimated 700 are thought to have travelled to Syria to fight since 2011, half of whom have since returned to the UK.
“There are about 30 nationalities of [IS] fighters here: Britons are the highest, then the Germans and the French, then the Saudis and the Algerians,” said an activist living in Manbij who gave his name as Husain Husain. “It has the most Europeans of any town in Syria.”
The Netherlands is to call for greater sharing of intelligence data, including lists of suspected foreign fighters, at a gathering of global counter-terrorism officials today, in the wake of weak communications before the November 13 Paris attacks, Reuters reports.
A framework for sharing confidential intelligence already exists, but the Dutch are seeking to boost the use of databases at the European and international police agencies Interpol and Europol.
Several of the Paris attackers had been on the radar of authorities in various countries, providing opportunities to stop them.
Unidentified aircraft attacked an IS convoy on January 10 near the Libyan city of Sirte, a resident told Reuters. The account could not be verified.
Sirte is IS's stronghold in Libya and has been under IS control for months as the extremist group tries to expand its presence in the country.
IS militants are thought to be responsible for an attempt January 10 to attack the oil port of Zuetina. Three boats were involved in the attack but were repelled.
The attack came after an assault last week by IS on the major Libyan oil ports of Sidra and Ras Lanuf.
We open this morning's live blogging on the IS group with this item from our news desk:
Starving Families Flee Encircled, IS-Controlled City In Northern Iraq
Reports from northern Iraq say hundreds of families have been fleeing hunger and rule by Islamic State (IS) militants in the city of Hawijah and the surrounding area.
Reports say many have been dying on the dangerous journey in a bid to reach Iraqi security forces, which have moved closer to the city of Hawijah after recent gains against IS militants in other parts of Iraq.
Colonel Fattah al-Khafaji, the police chief in charge of the Hawijah region, said on January 10 that entire families had been walking for two days or more through the Hamrin mountains in freezing whether to reach an area near Al-Fatha.
That is where Iraqi security forces have been receiving and assisting fleeing families every day for the past week.
Hawijah, about 220 kilometers north of Baghdad, remains an IS stronghold but is encircled by forces that are moving in on all sides.
Kurdish Peshmerga forces now hold positions north and east of the city while Iraqi government forces and Shi'ite tribal fighters have been advancing from the south and west.