The U.S. military has said that it is pulling 12 fighter jets -- F-15 Eagles and Strike Eagles -- from the Incirlik air base in Turkey.
As the Syrian military resumes flights out of the recaptured Kweiris military air base in Aleppo province, Syrian rebels say that they expect raids to increase, Syria Direct reports.
Syria Direct spoke with Sheikh Abd al-Rahman a-Turki, a commander in the Nour a-Din a-Zinki brigades that is believed to have received U.S.-supplied TOW anti-tank missiles.
A-Turki said that the Syrian Air Force would likely fly L-39 Albatros ground attack jets out of Kweiris which would likely mean increased air strikes across Aleppo province.
From our newsroom:
Turkey Refuses To Pay Compensation For Downed Russian Warplane
nkara says it will not pay any compensation to Moscow for the Russian warplane that was shot down last month near the Turkish-Syrian border by Turkey's air force.
Turkey's Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic announced Ankara's position on the issue on December 16, just minutes after Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksei Meshkov called for Turkey to pay compensation for the downed plane.
Turkey shot down the plane on November 24 after it briefly entered Turkish airspace from Syria, ignoring several warnings.
One of the two pilots aboard the plane was killed in the incident.
Russia insists the plane never left Syrian airspace and has imposed a series of economic sanctions against Turkey in retaliation.
The Turkish military has said in a written statement that IS militants attacked a military base in northern Iraq where Turkish troops were stationed, the Daily Sabah reports.
Daily Sabah quote a senior Turkish security official as saying that four Turkish soldiers were wounded and have been evacuated and treated.
"We are pleased to confirm that their conditions are stable," the official said.
"Force protection is a key part of the anti-[IS] training efforts in the Mosul area, with which Turkey has been involved for more than a year. At this time, a number of Turkish troops remain stationed at the frontline against [IS] and we remain committed to playing an active role in the war on terror" the official added.
The UN Security Council is to hold its first-ever meeting of finance ministers today to adopt a wide-ranging draft resolution aimed at ramping up sanctions against the IS group and cutting off its revenue flows, AFP reports.
From our news desk:
Yazidi Woman Tells UN About Her Rape, Torture At Hands Of IS
A Yazidi woman captured last year by the Islamic State group told her tale of rape, torture, and sexual slavery before a meeting of the United Nations Security Council December 16.
Nadia Murad Basee, a 21-year-old woman from the Iraqi minority pleaded with the council to destroy IS for abducting her and thousands of other Yazidi women as "war bounty" and giving them to IS militants to use as sex slaves.
"Islamic State has made Yazidi women into flesh to be trafficked in," she said, recounting how she was abducted from her village in Iraq and transported to Mosul, which IS captured last year.
A man she was given to "forced me to serve as part of his military faction" and "humiliated me every day," including with beatings, she said.
She tried to flee several times, but was stopped by guards. Eventually she escaped and is now living in Germany. She said several of her brothers and most of the men in her village were killed by IS.
The UN is investigating whether IS committed genocide in trying to wipe out Yazidis, whose faith -- with elements of Christianity, Islam and Zoroastrianism -- it considers to be devil worship.
Georgia's State Security Service has denied comments by the breakaway region of South Ossetia that the IS group has a presence in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge and could carry out attacks.
Irakli Beraia, the head of the State Security Service's analytical department, said comments from South Ossetia's David Sanakoev at a meeting of the Joint Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism yesterday were incorrect, according to RIA Novosti.
Russian President Putin says that Turkey carried out an "act of hostility" when it downed the Russian Su-24 jet near the Syrian border last month.
Putin added that Turkey then "hid behind NATO."
Putin was speaking in his annual press conference in Moscow.
Putin has commented on the deployment by Russia of its S-400 anti aircraft systems to Syria in the wake of the downing last month by Turkey of a Russian Su-24 jet.
If Turkish planes violated Syrian air space before, "let them fly now," he said.
Russia had been ready to cooperate with Turkey "on sensitive issues, and after a short time, they downed the Su-24" Putin said in comments relating to the downing by Turkey of a Russian Su-24 jet near the Syrian border last month.