Syrian state media is reporting that government forces have taken control of the al-Marouniyat village, one kilometer north of Salma, the rebel stronghold in Latakia province captured by loyalist forces yesterday.
State news agency SANA reports this morning that the capture of al-Marouniyat came after heavy clashes with rebels.
Loyalist Twitter accounts posted photos claiming to show fighters from the National Defense Forces (NDF), a volunteer force within the Syrian army, on the outskirts of Salma.
Loyalist forces have made gains in Latakia with assistance in the form of air support from Russia.
On January 12, prominent Chechen militant Muslim Shishani (Murad Margoshvili) posted a video in which he talked of the difficult situation for rebels in Latakia province and called for fighters elsewhere in Syria to support those in Latakia.
Turkey's Haberturk daily has published a series of photos purportedly of Nabil Fadli, the man named as the suicide bomber who killed 10 people in an attack in Istanbul yesterday.
The photos are believed to have been taken in Istanbul at least a week before yesterday's attack.
Today's Zaman reports:
According to the report in Habertürk, Fadli's pictures were taken on Jan. 5, and the attacker, who is suspected of having links to the terrorist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), submitted his fingerprints for an unknown reason at a state institution in İstanbul.
The victims of yesterday's suicide bombing in Istanbul are being commemorated in Sultanahmet square, Turkey's Hurriyet reports.
AFP's Maya Gebeily points out that the IS group has not made any claim of responsibility for yesterday's suicide bombing in Istanbul.
Turkey has said that the bombing was carried out by a Saudi asylum seeker.
In Libya, the death toll from last week's IS truck suicide bombing of a police training center in Zliten has reached 60. Some 125 people were injured.
Germany's Foreign Ministry has said that 10 Germans were killed in yesterday's suicide bombing in Istanbul.
Russia intends to clarify all of the circumstances around the detention in Turkey of three Russian nationals, and also information that the arrested men have refused to speak with Russian officials, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has told TASS.
The IS group in Libya arrested 120 civilians in the town of Bin Jawad last week, according to Arish Said, head of Libya's internationally-recognized government’s media department.
Those arrested had worked for Libyan security agencies and the Petroleum Facilities Guard, the militia charged with protecting Libya's national oil interests.
Said said that he could not confirm reports that IS has beheaded five of those it arrested.
IS overran Bin Jawad earlier this month.
Arish Said, the head of Libya's internationally-recognized government’s media department, has also commented on the aftermath of the attacks by the IS group on Libya's oil port of Sidra last week.
On January 5, Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) pushed IS militants back into Wadi Kahila following IS's attempt to overrun Sidra, an area a few kilometers southwest of Sidra and some 500km east of Tripoli.
But according to Arish, the PFG were not able to follow IS further into Wadi Kahila because of a lack of military support.
Civilians in Wadi Kahila are fighting the IS group because they fear what will happen if IS takes over there, Arish added.