Iraq's joint operations command said 10 Iraqi soldiers were killed or wounded Friday by so-called friendly fire from US-led coalition aircraft west of Baghdad. AFP reports.
The incident happened during a strike on IS during close combat and took place at around 10:00 GMT south of the IS-held city of Fallujah where forces from Iraq's 3rd Division 55th Brigade had advanced on IS positions near Amirat al-Fallujah.
Dutch daily current affairs program Nieuwsuur has posted the full video of its interview with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.
The video is in English with Dutch subtitles.
The five permanent members of the UN Security Council struggled to agree on a draft resolution endorsing an international bid to end the civil war in Syria, while separate ministerial talks began in New York today, France24 reports.
The 15-nation Security Council is scheduled to meet at 3pm ET (20:00 GMT) to discuss Syria, and it is not yet clear whether they will have a resolution to adopt.
And it now appears unlikely that the meeting will start on time.
France24's Sophie Pilgrim has this from the New York Syria talks:
Al-Monitor's Laura Rozen has this from the Syria talks in New York today.
This is a story that has been generating a lot of heat on social media. Here's Buzzfeed's take:
Here's an item from our news desk about a big development concerning Syria on the sidelines of the UN in New York:
World Powers Agree Upon Draft UN Resolution On Syria
A draft UN resolution to be presented to the Security Council that calls for Syrian peace talks to begin in early January has been agreed upon by some 20 foreign ministers who've met in New York.
The draft text, to be voted upon by the UN Security Council later on December 18, was hammered out at a meeting convened by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura.
It calls on the United Nations to bring together representatives of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government and moderate opposition groups that have been fighting Assad's regime for nearly five years.
Russia and the West have remained divided over a central issue in discussions of a political transition: the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Moscow and Iran support Assad, while key backers of the Syrian opposition -- including the United States, European nations, and Saudi Arabia -- insist he must leave power.
President Barack Obama on December 18 reiterated Washington's position that as long as Assad is president, Syria cannot be stable.
Speaking in his end-of-the-year press conference in Washington, Obama said there must be an end to the civil war in Syria so that Islamic State militants don't have a safe haven there.
The drafting of the final language in the UN Security Council resolution follows a December 15 visit to Moscow by Kerry in which he met with Lavrov and with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Kerry said after those talks with Putin that the United States is ready to work with Russia to destroy the Islamic State group.
He said he and Putin reached "common ground" on which Syrian opposition groups would be invited to participate in the Syrian peace talks in New York.
Kerry said neither IS militants nor the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front would be involved.
Kerry also said he and Putin discussed an exchange of information on the location of antiterrorist operations in Syria.
The Reuters news agency cited unnamed diplomats as saying earlier this week that Russia had indicated it may support Assad's eventual exit at the end of a transition period.