Russian drone footage shows destruction in Syria's Sheikh Miskeen
Footage from a Russian drone shows destruction in the southern Syrian town of Sheikh Miskeen, a rebel stronghold in Daraa province recaptured by government forces backed by Russian air strikes this week.
The footage was taken by Russiaworks.ru, which has taken drone footage of other areas in Syria.
Click here to see the location of Sheikh Miskeen on Google maps.
IS militants have reportedly shot at Turkish soldiers who were clearing mines near Jarabulus in northern Syria.
This just in from AFP: the UN has said that there will be "no postponement" of the Syria talks set to start tomorrow, Jan. 29.
Syrian Kurds plan major attack to seal IS-controlled Turkish border: Reuters
The Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia and its local allies are planning a major attack to seize the final stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border held by the IS group, a YPG source has told Reuters.
The offensive, if successful, would cut off a supply route that IS has used to bring in foreign fighters and other supplies.
But, as Reuters notes, it would also upset Turkey, which sees the Syrian Kurds as a terrorist group and has lobbied for the YPG and its political wing the PYD to be left out of Syria peace talks.
Media turns up in Geneva for Syria talks -- but will they start on time?
The Wall Street Journal's Sam Dagher tweets this image of media trucks at the UN palace in Geneva ahead of the Syria peace talks, set to start tomorrow morning.
But will they start on time? And even if they do, who will actually show up? The Saudi-backed Syrian opposition is still debating whether to attend tomorrow, saying that it has not yet heard back from UN chief Ban regarding its demands on halting bombardments and blockades.
'I have no fear of the Russians,' says Turkish killer of Russian Su-24 pilot
As Syrian government forces, backed by Russian air strikes, continue to advance in Syria's Latakia province, including in an area that is home to ethnic Turkomans and Turkoman rebels, the Turkish media is making the most of a visit to Istanbul by a Turkish fighter who claims he killed Oleg Peskov, the Russian pilot shot dead after Turkey downed his jet in November.
The Dogan news agency interviewed the fighter, Alparsan Celik, today -- a day after he was reported to have attended the Istanbul funeral of another fighter killed in Latakia.
Celik told Dogan that he "has no fear" of the Russians.
“When I went to the Turkmen Mountain [in Latakia province] about two-and-a-half years ago, I went with faith in God. It was He who gave our soul and it is He who takes it away. We are fighting there with this faith. Everyone’s day of death is already decided and mine is too ... So I definitely do not have such fear. We will continue our struggle until our last soldier, our last breath and our last drop of blood,” he said.
Celik also commented on the downing of the Russian Su-24 jet.
“It was the day when Kızıldağ [mountain] had just fallen [to the Syrian regime, supported by Russia]. It was Friday and we took action along with the morning prayers. We conducted an operation to retake Kızıldağ and as we were in the middle of the operation Russian warplanes came and bombed our operation line. The Russian warplane was shot down by Turkish F-16s, our brave pilots, while returning from the Turkish side,” he said.
Celik's account suggests that Turkey shot down the Su-24 after it bombed Turkoman rebels who were carrying out an offensive against Syrian government forces along the Syrian border.
While he praised the downing, Celik went on to say that Turkey was not giving Turkoman rebels enough support.
“We do not have armed power to respond to their technological weapons. Of course, Turkey provides weapons that work in hand-to-hand struggle, but we don’t have air defense systems and technological infrastructure. We only have an infrastructure that we built by our own means. What we want from the Turkish Republic is for it to give air defense weapons and to create better technological infrastructure for us,” he said.
While Turkey has maintained that it shot down the jet because it violated Turkish airspace, Celik's account suggests that Turkey was also acting in support of Turkoman rebels.
The account comes as two Turkish journalists are facing multiple life sentences for a news report alleging that Turkey had tried to send arms to Syrian Islamist rebels. The two journalists have been charged with obtaining and revealing state secrets for "espionage purposes."
IS claims Dutch suicide bomber carried out attack on Yemen president's residence
The IS group has claimed responsibility for a bombing outside Yemeni president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's residence, which killed seven people.
IS released a statement online that said the bomb had been carried out by a suicide attacker named Abu Hunaifa al-Hollandi, whose nom de guerre suggests that he is Dutch. IS also released a photograph that it claims is of the attacker as well as images of the explosion.
As Twitter user Bilad Al Fransa noted, this is the first European suicide bomber IS has used in Yemen, at least according to his nom de guerre. The move indicates that foreign militants have joined the IS group in Yemen.
IS appears to claim responsibility for IED attack on Egyptian army in Sinai
The IS group's Egyptian affiliate, Wilayat Sinai, has apparently claimed responsibility for an improvised explosive device (IED) attack on an Egyptian army convoy on the outskirts of the city of Arish in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula yesterday that killed at least four soldiers and injured 12 more.
IS appeared to make its claim in a statement circulated on social media on Jan. 28. However, analysts noted that the claim, shared on Twitter, had a slightly different format than the messages usually sent by IS.
The message had a blue title rather than the red title: