U.S. tells allies campaign to defeat Islamic State must be accelerated
The United States is pressing allies today to contribute more to a U.S.-led military campaign against the IS group that it says must be ramped up, regardless of the fate of diplomatic efforts to end Syria's civil war.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter is due to start talks on this afternoon in Brussels with more than two dozen defense ministers, Reuters reports.
Every effort must be made to secure peace in Syria: Merkel
Every effort must be made to try to secure peace in Syria, including at talks later on Thursday in Munich, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abad this afternoon.
'My kids are vomiting because of the cold,' Syrian refugee woman says
Displaced Syrians have fled to the border with Turkey to escape a government offensive backed by Russian air strikes lack food and medicine and are suffering in the cold, the Norwegian Refugee Council says.
The NRC spoke to one refugee woman at in an informal camp in Alhamareen near the border with Turkey. The woman said that she and her two small children have been out on the streets for eight days.
"The kids have diarrhea and they are vomiting because of the cold," she said.
Another woman, a widow who is at the Alhamareen camp with her grandsons, says that she is in desperate need of food and medicine.
"I need medicine, we need food. There isn’t even a small amount of grains we can eat. Not even lentils," the woman said.
Syrians freeze at Turkey border: Norwegian Refugee Council
The Norwegian Refugee Council has expressed its concern for the thousands of Syrian civilians amassed at the border with Turkey after fleeing heavy fighting in Aleppo province.
"Tens of thousands of civilians, who have survived several years of war, are now giving up all hopes for a future in Syria. We have hardly seen a more dramatic escalation of the conflict than what we are witnessing now," NRC Secretary General Jan Egeland has said.
Red Cross steps up aid to Aleppo
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says it and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent are stepping up aid to civilians in Aleppo, where a government offensive backed by Russian air strikes has caused thousands to flee and has cut off supply routes.
UN warns of hunger in Syria's Homs amid government offensive
A Syrian government military offensive has cut supply routes to 120,000 people in northern Homs province since mid-January, the United Nations has warned.
Residents of the area are at risk of hunger and malnutrition as well as deaths due to a lack of medical care. Bread prices in the area are already 10 times higher than in the city of Homs -- making the staple unaffordable for most families.
'Official plans for a ceasefire in Syria haven't been made public': Kremlin
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has responded to questions about media reports that Russia has proposed to the United States that a ceasefire start on March 1.
Peskov said that no plans had officially been made public yet -- though notably he did not deny that a proposal for a March 1 ceasefire had been made.
"The fact is that no plans have been officially made public. So let's start from that, and let's not speculate on information. You know that Russia has consistently made efforts in the context of resolving the Syrian conflict together with other countries, which are partners in the process. Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Peskov said.
More from Russia's Defense Ministry on its air operation in Syria:
The Ministry says, "recently we have heard advice from the Pentagon to change our strategy in Syria, to 'help' the United States achieve a political transition of power."
"We remind these advisors that the aim of our operations in Syria is to destroy terrorism -- a direct and clear threat to Russia and to the world."
Syrian opposition 'sharing recon' with Russian air force, Syrian gov't
Russia's Defense Ministry says that some "units of the Syrian opposition" are sharing reconnaissance data with the Russian air force and cooperating with the Syrian government.