No future in Syria that includes Assad: U.S.-led coalition spokesman
The spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition against IS in Iraq and Syria has told BBC Radio 4 that the Russians "aren't helping" in Syria and that there is no future in Syria that includes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Damascus Shi'ite shrine attack deadliest in Syria's war: SOHR
A series of suicide attacks on Feb. 21 near a Shi'ite shrine south of the Syrian capital Damascus was the deadliest attack since Syria's war broke out in 2011, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said.
Some 120 people, including at least 90 civilians, were among those killed when the attacks, claimed by the Islamic State group, exploded near the Sayidda Zeinab shrine.
Syrian opposition meet in Riyadh as efforts to reach ceasefire intensify: AFP
Syria's main opposition umbrella group is meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh today as Washington and Moscow worked to secure a ceasefire, AFP reports.
"There is a meeting," Monzer Makhous, a spokesman for the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), told AFP in Riyadh.
The meeting is expected to continue for two or three days to discuss developments since the group decided to attend peace talks in Geneva last month, Makhous said.
Russia says 'terrorists' need to be prevented from worsening the situation in Syria
Russia's Foreign Ministry has said that is important to stop attempts by terrorists to carry out attacks in order to worsen the situation in Syria.
"We are convinced that these heinous criminal acts require a proper principled response from the international community. It is important to put reliable barriers in the way of attempts by the IS group and the Al Nusra Front and other terrorist groups in Syria to further exacerbate the situation in Syria," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, referring to the February 21 attacks in Damascus and Homs that killed over 130 people.
Turkish-Saudi Arabia ground operation in Syria not on agenda: Cavusoglu
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said that a military ground operation in Syria by Turkey and Saudi Arabia is not on the agenda and any such move would need to involve all countries in the U.S.-led coalition against the IS group, Reuters report.
Russian airstrikes are the biggest obstacle to achieving a ceasefire in Syria, Cavusoglu added.
Libya's NOC warns of more IS attacks on oil facilities
The head of Libya's National Oil Company (NOC) has warned that IS militants will carry out more attacks on the country' s oil facilities unless a UN-backed unity government is approved.
Mustafa Sanalla told Reuters that suspected IS militants had staged their latest attack against Libya's oil infrastructure late Feb.18 or Feb. 19, setting fire to one production tank and damaging another at the Fida oil field.
Syria bombings call 'provisional' ceasefire agreement into question
Yesterday's deadly bombings by the IS group in government-controlled Alawite and Shi'ite areas of Damascus and Homs have put an already shaky "provisional agreement" on a ceasefire in Syria in jeopardy, the Guardian reports.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he had reached an agreement with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Feb. 21, after some signs that Moscow has been putting pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to comply.
IS claims responsibility for deadly attacks in Syria
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a series of deadly bomb attacks on Feb. 21 in the Syrian cities of Damascus and Homs, which left at least 140 people dead.
Four blasts in the southern Damascus suburb of Sayyida Zeinab killed at least 83 people, state media say.
In Homs, 57 people, most of them civilians, were killed in a double car bombing.
Both of Sunday's attacks targeted government controlled areas dominated by Islamic minorities reviled by the the extremist Sunni IS group. The Sayyida Zeinab suburb is home to a Shi'ite shrine said to contain the grave of the Prophet Muhammad's granddaughter.
The Homs attacks targeted an Alawite neighborhood.
This concludes our live blogging of the Syrian crisis and Islamic State for Friday, February 19. Check back here on Monday for more of our continuing coverage.