Yazidi woman describes how IS slaughtered her family
A Yazidi woman who is in the UK as part of a campaign to united the world against the IS group, has described how the extremists slaughtered her family in Iraq and held her as a sex slave for three months.
Nadia Murad, 21, was orphaned when IS militants killed six of her brothers and her mother.
The Telegraph quotes these heartrending words by Murad:
"About 5,800 Yazidi women and children were captured by the so-called Islamic State. They have killed many people in Iraq and Syria and displaced millions.
"For us, the Yazidis, they killed the men and took the women and children.
"They were committing all kinds; murder, rape and displacing people by force in the name of Islam.
Turkey denies that its soldiers entered Syria
Turkey's Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz this morning has denied reports that its soldiers have entered Syria, saying that it has no such plans, the state-run Anadolu Agency says.
Damascus complained that Turkish soldiers were among around 100 gunmen who entered Syria on Feb. 13 with 12 pick up trucks mounted with heavy machine guns in an operation to supply militants fighting the Syrian government.
The Syrian government wrote letters of complaint to the UN about the incident and also asked the UN to take action against Turkish shelling of Syrian Kurdish forces in Aleppo province in northern Syria. The Kurdish YPG militia has been capturing areas from rebels who are also fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Women's hospital in Syria's Azaz reportedly hit by missile
A women's hospital in the town of Azaz in northern Syria, close to the border with Turkey, has been hit by a missile, says Jenan Moussa of the pro-opposition Al-Aan news. It's not clear if the missile was fired by Syrian government or Russian air strikes.
MSF says Idlib hospital destroyed in air strikes
Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has said that a hospital it supported in Syria's Idlib province was destroyed this morning in air strikes.
The hospital was in the town of Marat al-Numan.
Russian Deputy FM explains why Moscow began its air campaign in Syria (spoiler: it's America's fault)
Russia began its air campaign in Syria because it could no longer deal with the inaction of the U.S.-led coalition against the IS group, deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov has explained.
"We went into Syria, including with the use of force from the air, because we considered it impossible to deal with the quasi-action, and actually the inaction, of the U.S.-led so-called anti-IS coalition, which did not do its job," Ryabkov told the Rossiya-24 TV channel.
Rybakov added that for Russia this was "a direct, immediate threat and our colleagues in BRICS have treated our use of force, our air operation, with understanding."
IS claims alleged suicide car bombing in Daghestan
The IS group has issued a statement -- in Arabic, not Russian -- claiming responsibility for a suicide car bombing on a traffic police post in the North Caucasian republic of Daghestan this morning.
The security forces have said that the attack on a police post in Dzhemikent was carried out by a suicide bomber whose remains were found at the scene and had been organized by members of the "southern" group of militants, according to the Caucasian Knot.
The attack occurred amid increasing pressure from the government on Salafist communities, the Caucasian Knot reported.
Video footage of the attack has been circulating on Twitter and other social media including Telegram.
Turkey: Kurdish YPG militia is 'Russia's instrument' in Syria
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said that the Kurdish YPG militia -- which Turkey shelled over the weekend -- is "Russia's instrument" in Syria.
Davutoglu: Turkey won't allow YPG to take Syrian border town of Azaz
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said that Turkey will not allow the Kurdish YPG militia to take the Syrian border town of Azaz and make advances west of the Euphrates river.
Turkey began shelling the YPG on Feb. 13 and says the Kurdish group is linked to the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). But Washington does not share Turkey's view of the YPG as a terror group, instead seeing it as an important partner for the U.S.-led coalition against the IS group in Syria.
France has called on Turkey to stop its assault on the YPG in northern Syria.
At least 14 dead in strike on hospital, school in Azaz
More from Reuters on the news that missiles have hit a hospital and a school sheltering Syrian refugees in the Syrian border town of Azaz. At least 14 people have been killed in the attack.
Turkey's actions in Syria 'undisguised support for terrorism': Russia
The war of words between Russia and Turkey over Syria continues this morning with a statement by Russia's Foreign Ministry on Turkey's shelling of Kurdish YPG militias in northern Syria, which Moscow describes as a sign of "undisguised support for terrorism."
A partial translation of the ministry's statement:
Beginning on Feb. 13, Turkish artillery concentrated in the border areas carried out massive strikes on Syrian residential areas that were recently liberated from terrorists by government forces and Kurdish militias. The shelling, inter alia, targeted the Mennagh airbase [the ministry goes on to list several villages in Aleppo province] and also Syrian army positions in Latakia province. There are many deaths and injuries among civilians, and destruction of infrastructure and civilian homes.
At the same time, according to information received, Turkey continues to facilitate illegal entry into Syria of fresh groups of jihadists and mercenaries with weapons as replenishment for the fighting squads of the Al-Nusra Front, IS and other terrorist organizations. Wounded fighters are transported into Turkey as well as various gangs for relaxation and later reformation.
[...]
Moscow would like to express the gravest concern for the aggressive actions of the Turkish authorities in relation to a neighboring state. We see this as blatant support for international terrorism and the violation of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the commitments undertaken by Turkey as a state party to the International Syrian Support Group in Vienna, New York and Munich....