The United States and its allies on Wednesday conducted 18 air strikes against the IS group in Iraq and Syria in its latest round of daily air attacks against the militant group, the U.S.-led coalition has said.
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is to travel to Moscow for talks with Russian officials on December 20 and 21 to coordinate efforts to defeat the IS group, his office has announced.
"On December 20 and 21 Mr Le Drian will go to Russia to discuss coordination in the fight against [IS], defense ministry spokesman Pierre Bayle told a press conference today.
Iran's Mashregh News, which has ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), tweets that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is set to visit Tehran in early January to discuss the Syrian crisis.
Pakistan has confirmed it's part of a Saudi-led "Islamic military alliance" against terrorism in but remained vague about when exactly it joined up, AP reports.
AP quotes Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman, Qazi Khalilullah, as telling reporters "yes,we're part of it" when asked about the alliance.
Khalilullah denied yesterday's media reports that claimed Pakistan was "surprised" to hear that it was a member of the 34-nation alliance announced by Saudi Arabia earlier this week.
Alexey Pushkov, head of the State Duma lower house committee for foreign affairs, has said that the United States had been forced into dialogue with Russia over Syria and the fight against the IS group.
"It is a kind of forced decision as they never opted for it. But they might stay in the game only by holding dialogue with Russia," TASS quoted Pushkov as saying.
"The only way out for the United States is to launch a dialogue with Russia."
Pushkov made his comments during a Russian-French inter-parliamentary seminar.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has discussed the issue of resolving the Syrian conflict in a telephone call today with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, the Russian Foreign Ministry says.
The phone call comes ahead of a meeting of world powers tomorrow in New York to discuss a peaceful solution to the civil war in Syria.
Kerry visited Moscow earlier this week for talks with Lavrov and Russian President Putin on Syria. Today's phone call was a "development" of that meeting, the Foreign Ministry said.
The Syrian opposition hosted by Saudi Arabia elected former Prime Minister Riad Hijab as a coordinator of a body that is expected to lead future peace talks, sources said, Reuters report.
Hijab defected from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government in 2012.
A powerful rebel group in Aleppo which in the past received weapons from the United States has lashed out at Jordan following reports Amman would include the faction in a list of terror groups it is preparing for upcoming Syria peace talks, NOW Media reports.
The Nour al-DIn al-Zinki group said in a statement on Twitter that Jordan should "review its policy" which it said was akin to that of Syrian intelligence.
Jordan reportedly gave a list of 160 groups to be considered for inclusion on a list of commonly agreed terror groups, according to Russian media, citing an anonymous source in the Russian Foreign Ministry.
A list of groups purportedly on the terror list has been circulating on social media today after a journalist with the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi claimed to have obtained a preliminary list of the groups.
One of the groups listed is Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar, which no longer exists. The group used to be led by a Chechen militant affiliated with the North Caucasian militant group the Caucasus Emirate.
From our news desk:
Islamic State Forces Reportedly Gain Territory In Eastern Afghanistan
Fighters pledging loyalty to the Islamic State (IS) extremist group have reportedly overrun new areas in the eastern province of Nangarhar.
The movement by the IS militants has caused many people to flee their homes, Radio Free Afghanistan reports.
There has reportedly been no military action taken against the IS group in Nangarhar, which borders Kabul Province and is not far from the capital city.
The reported advance by IS forces comes just days after the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, John Campbell, said "foreign fighters" from Syria and Iraq had joined with militants in Afghanistan loyal to the IS group and were trying to establish a regional base in Nangarhar.
Afghan officials say they are also trying to track down broadcasts made by a pro-IS radio station, The Voice Of The Caliphate, that have been heard in the region recently.
German Police on Thursday arrested a Syrian refugee suspected of links to the IS group, a German prosecutor said, the Wall Street Journal is reporting.
Dortmund state prosecutor Sonja Frodermann said the man who had registered as Leeth Abdalhmeed and was born in 1984 had been arrested at the refugee shelter in Unna-Massen Thursday afternoon on suspicion of having links to the Syrian terror organization.
The man “is said to have been active in some form for Islamic State,“ said Frodermann. ”He got arrested this afternoon."
Syrian opposition activists said the man was Leith Abdul Hamid, a mid-ranking IS official from Deir al-Zor province.