Red Cross steps up aid to Aleppo
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says it and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent are stepping up aid to civilians in Aleppo, where a government offensive backed by Russian air strikes has caused thousands to flee and has cut off supply routes.
Syrians freeze at Turkey border: Norwegian Refugee Council
The Norwegian Refugee Council has expressed its concern for the thousands of Syrian civilians amassed at the border with Turkey after fleeing heavy fighting in Aleppo province.
"Tens of thousands of civilians, who have survived several years of war, are now giving up all hopes for a future in Syria. We have hardly seen a more dramatic escalation of the conflict than what we are witnessing now," NRC Secretary General Jan Egeland has said.
'My kids are vomiting because of the cold,' Syrian refugee woman says
Displaced Syrians have fled to the border with Turkey to escape a government offensive backed by Russian air strikes lack food and medicine and are suffering in the cold, the Norwegian Refugee Council says.
The NRC spoke to one refugee woman at in an informal camp in Alhamareen near the border with Turkey. The woman said that she and her two small children have been out on the streets for eight days.
"The kids have diarrhea and they are vomiting because of the cold," she said.
Another woman, a widow who is at the Alhamareen camp with her grandsons, says that she is in desperate need of food and medicine.
"I need medicine, we need food. There isn’t even a small amount of grains we can eat. Not even lentils," the woman said.
Every effort must be made to secure peace in Syria: Merkel
Every effort must be made to try to secure peace in Syria, including at talks later on Thursday in Munich, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abad this afternoon.
U.S. tells allies campaign to defeat Islamic State must be accelerated
The United States is pressing allies today to contribute more to a U.S.-led military campaign against the IS group that it says must be ramped up, regardless of the fate of diplomatic efforts to end Syria's civil war.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter is due to start talks on this afternoon in Brussels with more than two dozen defense ministers, Reuters reports.
Russia's Defense Ministry publishes videos of strikes on 'IS targets'
Russia's Defense Ministry has published a series of videos of Russian air strikes that it claims have hit IS targets in various parts of Syria.
Some of the claimed strikes took place in areas where IS militants are not present. Russia frequently uses the term "IS" as a generic term for armed opposition groups in Syria even when it is clear that the groups to which it is referring have no affiliation with the IS group.
This video shows a strike on what the ministry claims are IS oil storage tanks in Aleppo province (the video does not say where in Aleppo province the strike took place.)
This video claims to show a strike on a "militant stronghold" in Latakia province. The text accompanying the video does not say that the strike targeted IS militants -- there is no IS presence in Latakia.
This video shows a strike against an "IS command point" in Idlib province:
51,000 displaced since Syrian gov't offensive on Aleppo began on Feb. 1: UN
Some 51,000 people have been displaced since the Syrian government and allied forces and Russian air strikes began an offensive on the city of Aleppo on Feb. 1, the UN has said.
A further 300,000 people are at risk of being placed under siege, the UN said.
Lavrov and Kerry meet in Munich to talk Syria
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has posted these photos of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Munich, where top diplomats are meeting for a planned Syria peace conference hosted by the United States and Russia.
Russia has proposed a cease fire in Syria: Lavrov
Russia has made a proposal for a cease fire in Syria and is waiting for a response from the International Syria Support Group, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said.