Syrian state news agency SANA has posted this video of government troops in the town of Rabia in Latakia, which it recaptured from rebels on January 24.
Rabia was the last major rebel-held town in Latakia province and its capture was the second strategic victory for Syrian government forces in the province, who retook the rebel stronghold of Salma on January 12.
"In the coming weeks, we will be able to announce that all of Latakia -- city and province -- is free from armed groups," an army commander in Latakia told AFP.
Kyrgyzstan To Recognize Uzbek Militant Group As Terrorist Organization
Prosecutors in Kyrgyzstan have asked a court in the Osh district to rule that an Uzbek-led jihadist group fighting in Syria is a terrorist organization.
The group, known as both Jannat Oshiklari and Tawhid wal-Jihod, is based in Aleppo province and joined Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate the Al-Nusra front last year.
"For the purposes of Kyrgyzstan's national security and in protection of human and civil rights and liberties and foundations of the constitutional order, the regional Prosecutor's Office has filed a petition with the Osh City Court to recognize as terrorist the [Tawhid wal Jihod] group and ban its activities," Osh Region Prosecutor Aibek Turganbayev told Interfax.
Turganbayev said that in late 2015, 16 members of the group were arrested in Kyrgyzstan, including several Kyrgyz nationals who had returned home after fighting in Syria.
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Staffan de Mistura, the UN's Syria Envoy, is to give a press conference at 3p.m. Geneva time (9 a.m. New York time) today on the Syria talks.
Hollande: Threats Won't Weaken France
French President Francois Hollande has said that his country will not allow threats to weaken its resolve against terrorism.
Hollande's comments came hours after the IS group released a video claiming to show the militants who carried out the November 13 attacks in Paris training and carrying out atrocities in IS-controlled territory.
Turkey Arrests 10 Suspected Of Recruiting For IS
Turkish police have detained 10 people on suspicion of recruiting for the IS militant group, the state-run Anadolu Agency is reporting this morning.
The 10 were arrested in raids by anti-terror police early this morning on a street in the capital Ankara, Anadolu said.
From our news desk:
Kerry Seeking 'Clarity' On Scheduled Syrian Peace Talks
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says he hopes to have "clarity" within 24 to 48 hours on Syrian peace talks that are supposed to begin this week.
Speaking to reporters in Laos on January 25, Kerry also said he agreed with the United Nations special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, that invitations for the talks should not be sent out until "all pieces are lined up."
The talks were due to begin on January 25 in Geneva but will almost certainly be delayed because of disagreements with Russia and Iran, which support the Syrian government, over which groups can represent the opposition.
The conflict, which broke out after an uprising in 2011, has killed an estimated 250,000 people and displaced a further 11 million.
Kerry also said that recent statements from Syrian officials that they will make no concessions at the negotiating table and complaints from opposition figures that they are being forced into the talks reflect only "tensions" and "rumors."
From our news desk:
IS Militant Video Purportedly Shows Paris Attackers
The Islamic State (IS) group has released a video purporting to show nine militants behind the November Paris terrorist attacks that killed 130 people.
Posted online, the video shows the nine making threats to countries in the coalition against IS, including Britain.
The militants seen in the video purportedly include four Belgians, three French citizens, and two Iraqis said to be responsible for the Paris attacks.
Filmed in a desert of Iraq or Syria before the Paris attacks, the militants speak in French and Arabic.
The footage includes images of the coordinated Paris attacks as well as security operations by French special forces during the assaults.
It also depicts the nine jihadists carrying out atrocities, including beheadings and shooting people described as hostages.
That concludes our Tracking Islamic State live blogging for today. Please join us again tomorrow for more news.
A report from RFE/RL's Newsroom about Russian/Syrian air strikes "missing" IS targets:
Syrian activists say at least 40 people were killed by air raids on two villages in eastern Syria on January 22.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the air raids killed some 30 people in the village of Tabiah and another 10 people died in a separate raid on the village of Bouleil.
According to the Britain-based monitoring group, the two villages have been targeted since January 16 by Syrian and Russian air strikes but the claim cannot be independently confirmed.
Opposition activist Omar Abu Leila said all of the victims on the January 22 raids were civilians.
The Observatory said more than 90 people, including whole families, have been killed in Tabiah and Bouleil since the raids began on January 16.
Tabiah and Bouleil -- located in the province of Deir al-Zur -- are both held by the Islamic State extremist group, which also controls most of the province.
Based on reporting by AP and dpa
A Reuters report about the IS in Libya:
Decisive military action is needed to halt the spread of Islamic State in Libya, the top U.S. military officer said on Friday, warning the group wanted to use the country as a platform to coordinate activity across Africa.
General Joseph Dunford said he believed the U.S. military leadership owed President Barack Obama and the U.S. defense secretary ideas about the "way ahead" for dealing with the militant group's expansion in Libya.
He described it as an "immediate imperative".
"Unchecked, I am concerned about the spread of ISIL in Libya," Dunford, using an acronym for Islamic State, told a small group of reporters travelling with him in Paris.
"You want to take decisive military action to check ISIL's expansion and at the same time you want to do it in such a way that's supportive of a long-term political process."
Islamic State militants have exploited a prolonged power vacuum in Libya, nearly five years after the overthrow of veteran leader Muammar Gaddafi, and have managed to establish a foothold in the city of Sirte.
Islamic State militants set fire on Thursday to oil storage tanks in a fresh assault on Ras Lanuf terminal in northern Libya.
The United States says it killed Islamic State's senior leader in Libya, known as Abu Nabil, in a November air strike by F-15 aircraft.
It believes he was operating in Libya with the support of Islamic State's core leadership in Iraq and Syria, in a likely sign of the country's strategic importance to the group.
"So as I look at Libya, I look at Libya as an ISIL platform from which they can conduct malign activity across Africa," Dunford said.
The chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff declined to say what measures he was considering but stressed that it would need to be "more than we're seeing now".
"My perspective is we need to do more," Dunford said, saying he would examine a range of factors, including the ability to identify the right forces on the ground to support.
Western powers hope a new government announced on Tuesday will deliver stability to Libya, deeply fractured since Gaddafi's fall in 2011, and tackle the growing threat from Islamic State militants. Still, divisions over the U.N.-backed plan for a political transition remain.
"Anything we do has got to be supportive of a political end state," Dunford said.