Libya's NOC warns of more IS attacks on oil facilities
The head of Libya's National Oil Company (NOC) has warned that IS militants will carry out more attacks on the country' s oil facilities unless a UN-backed unity government is approved.
Mustafa Sanalla told Reuters that suspected IS militants had staged their latest attack against Libya's oil infrastructure late Feb.18 or Feb. 19, setting fire to one production tank and damaging another at the Fida oil field.
Turkish-Saudi Arabia ground operation in Syria not on agenda: Cavusoglu
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said that a military ground operation in Syria by Turkey and Saudi Arabia is not on the agenda and any such move would need to involve all countries in the U.S.-led coalition against the IS group, Reuters report.
Russian airstrikes are the biggest obstacle to achieving a ceasefire in Syria, Cavusoglu added.
Russia says 'terrorists' need to be prevented from worsening the situation in Syria
Russia's Foreign Ministry has said that is important to stop attempts by terrorists to carry out attacks in order to worsen the situation in Syria.
"We are convinced that these heinous criminal acts require a proper principled response from the international community. It is important to put reliable barriers in the way of attempts by the IS group and the Al Nusra Front and other terrorist groups in Syria to further exacerbate the situation in Syria," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, referring to the February 21 attacks in Damascus and Homs that killed over 130 people.
Syrian opposition meet in Riyadh as efforts to reach ceasefire intensify: AFP
Syria's main opposition umbrella group is meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh today as Washington and Moscow worked to secure a ceasefire, AFP reports.
"There is a meeting," Monzer Makhous, a spokesman for the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), told AFP in Riyadh.
The meeting is expected to continue for two or three days to discuss developments since the group decided to attend peace talks in Geneva last month, Makhous said.
Damascus Shi'ite shrine attack deadliest in Syria's war: SOHR
A series of suicide attacks on Feb. 21 near a Shi'ite shrine south of the Syrian capital Damascus was the deadliest attack since Syria's war broke out in 2011, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said.
Some 120 people, including at least 90 civilians, were among those killed when the attacks, claimed by the Islamic State group, exploded near the Sayidda Zeinab shrine.
No future in Syria that includes Assad: U.S.-led coalition spokesman
The spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition against IS in Iraq and Syria has told BBC Radio 4 that the Russians "aren't helping" in Syria and that there is no future in Syria that includes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
IS cell in Morocco plotted attacks on shopping mall, hotel: AP
Moroccan officials and state media say authorities in the country dismantled a 10-person terrorist cell operating under the "supervision" of the IS group, and which was plotting imminent attacks on targets including a Casablanca shopping mall and a high-end hotel, the Associated Press reports.
Syria envoy: deadly attacks suggest IS feeling 'cornered': AP
United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has told the Associated Press that deadly weekend bombings in Damascus and Homs claimed by the Islamic State group suggest the extremists are feeling cornered amid diplomatic efforts to end the country's five-year war.
From our news desk:
Tajiks Detained After 'Liking' Islamic State Video
HATLON, Tajikistan -- Fourteen residents of Tajikistan's Yovon district have been detained for questioning after they clicked a "like" button on an Islamic extremist video that had been posted to the online Odnoklassniki social network.
An official in the Yovon district told RFE/RL on February 22 that the men were detained and questioned as part of an investigation into the video, which called on Tajik men to join the Islamic State (IS) militant group.
Ten of the detained men were released after an interrogation, while four remained in custody on February 22.
Tajik authorities say at least 1,000 Tajik citizens have traveled to Iraq and Syria to fight alongside IS militants.
Tajik officials also have raised concerns because the IS recruiting efforts appear to be attracting Tajiks at an increasing rate.
Authorities in other former Soviet republics of Central Asia also say hundreds of their citizens have fought alongside IS militants and other extremists in Syria and Iraq.