British woman guilty of failing to tell authorities her husband planned to join IS
A British woman has been found guilty of Syria-related terror offenses.
Lorna Moore, 33, from Walsall failed to tell the authorities that her husband Sajid Aslam planned to join the IS group.
Aslam traveled to Turkey in 2014 and is suspected to be fighting alongside IS.
Moore denied accusations that she was planning to travel to Syria with her three children to join Aslam.
Islamic State militants forced out of Libya's Sabratha after clashes: officials
Islamic State militants briefly entered the center of the western Libyan city of Sabratha during overnight clashes with local military brigades before retreating, local authorities have said, Reuters are reporting.
IS militants have taken advantage of political chaos and a lack of central authority to establish a presence in Libya, with fighters loyal to Islamic State seizing control in Sirte and staging attacks in several other cities.
Turkey's Erdogan says Syrian Kurdish YPG should be excluded from ceasefire
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has once again called for the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its military wing the People’s Protection Units (YPG) to be excluded from the planned cessation of hostilities in Syria, like the IS group and Al-Nusra Front, Hurriyet is reporting.
“The PYD and the YPG need to be out of the scope of the cease-fire, just like Daesh is,” Erdogan said during a speech to village headmen in Ankara on Feb. 24, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
Saudi-backed Syrian opposition yet to agree to cessation of hostilities
Syria's main opposition group said it has yet to commit to a U.S.-Russian plan to stop fighting in Syria on Feb. 27, Reuters report.
"There was no consultation of Syrians. Will all the observations, additions and amendments requested by Syrians be taken into consideration?," Mohamad Alloush, the chief negotiator for the Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee, said in an interview with the pro-opposition Orient TV station.
Combatants are required to say whether they will agree to the "cessation of hostilities" by noon on Feb. 26 (0500 ET), and to halt fighting at midnight Feb. 27. The deal does not include the IS group or the Al-Nusra Front, an al Qaeda affiliate which is widely deployed in opposition-held areas.
Egypt admits 'terrorists' downed Russian flight from Sharm al-Sheikh
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has admitted for the first time that "terrorists" were responsible for the downing of a Russian passenger plane from Sharm al-Sheikh.
“Has terrorism ended, no it has not but it will if we unite,” Sisi said.
“Whoever downed the Russian plane, what did they want? They wanted to hit tourism, and to hit relations with Russia.”
The announcement comes after months of denial by Egypt of claims by the IS group that it downed the Metrojet flight 9268 over Sinai on Oct. 31, killing all 224 passengers and crew on board.
IS said that its Egyptian branch, Wilayat Sinai, had smuggled a bomb on board the plane in the airport of Sharm al-Sheikh.
UN carries out first humanitarian airdrop in Syria: AFP
Russia has started 'concrete work' on reconciliation in Syria: Ministry
Russia has begun "concrete work" on reconciliation in Syria and is hoping that the United States will take similar actions, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov has said.
"I have to say -- we are determined and in fact have begun concrete and complex practical work for reconciliation in Syria. We hope that our American partners will, instead of letters and words, switch to concrete actions as soon as possible," Konashenkov said.
Russian warplanes carried out 62 sorties in Syria in past 2 days: Ministry
Russian war planes flew 62 sorties in Syria over the past two days striking 187 targets, RIA Novosti cited a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman as saying.
Apropos of my previous update, here's our news desk's take on Putin's phone calls regarding Syria:
Putin Talks About Syria By Phone With Saudi King, Iranian President
he Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone to Saudi Arabia's King Salman on February 24 and that the two had agreed to continue contacts about resolving the war in Syria.
Putin's aide Vladimir Kozhin said the two spoke about military and technical cooperation.
A Kremlin statement says Putin also explained the essence of an agreement between Russia and the United States on a cease-fire in Syria that is due to begin on February 27.
Later, Putin spoke by telephone with Iranian President Hassan Rohani about the conflict in Syria.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has warned that Washington is considering a "Plan B" to deal with Syria if Damascus and Moscow demonstrate in the coming days that they are not serious about the truce and negotiating a political transition.
Islamic State militants and the Al-Qaeda-linked Al- Nusra Front are not part of the accord.
Russia's state-run TASS news agency quoted an unnamed Kremlin official as saying on February 24 that Russia was "not aware of any 'Plan B' the United States is talking about."
Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, TASS, and Interfax
Putin goes on diplomatic blitz ahead of Syria ceasefire
With the cessation of hostilities in Syria due to start on Feb. 27, Russia's President Putin has had a busy afternoon, putting in telephone calls to a number of world leaders.
According to the Kremlin website, Putin has held telephone conversations today with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Saudi Arabia's King Salman, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The Kremlin press service has also been working hard, putting out a statement that said that King Salman welcomed the statement by Russia and the United States on the cessation of hostilities in Syria.