There are reports of some more heavy civilian casualties in Syria:
Russian air strikes in a northern Syrian town are reported to have killed at least 18 people and wounded dozens more.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the air strikes targeted Ariha early on November 29.
The Local Coordination Committees, an activist collective, said missiles hit a busy market in the rebel-held town.
Ariha Today, a Facebook page covering events in the town, said the air strikes were carried out by Russian military jets.
There were conflicting casualty figures.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 18 people were killed and dozens more wounded.
Ariha Today put the death toll at 40 with 70 more wounded.
If Russian warplanes did carry out the November 29 air strikes it would be one of the deadliest incidents since Moscow began launching airstrikes in Syria two months ago.
Opposition activists say scores of people have been killed by Russian strikes since the air campaign began on September 30.
(AP, Reuters)
It seems some more Islamic State mass graves may have been found in Iraq (from RFE/RL's news desk):
Three more mass graves have been found in the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar, where Kurdish forces drove out Islamic State militants earlier this month.
Officials said on November 29 that the graves are believed to contain 80 to 100 bodies.
Two graves have been found east of the town and one has been found within the town itself, bringing the total number of mass graves uncovered to five.
IS captured the town in August 2014 and began killing and enslaving members of the Yazidi religious minority, leading thousands of residents to flee into the mountains.
A U.S.-led coalition began carrying out strikes against the extremist group later that month, partly out of concern for their plight.
(AP)
This has been doing the rounds on social media over the past few days:
RFE/RL's Georgian Service has given us this heart-rending video in which the mother of an Islamist militant tries to come to term with what has become of her son:
The mother of a Georgian man, who appeared in a video released on November 23 calling on Muslims to behead infidels, expressed bewilderment at her son's transformation. In an interview with RFE/RL Georgian Service correspondent Nata Imedaishvili, Meri Iremadze said she feels anger toward her son, Badri Iremadze. The interview was conducted on November 25 in the village of Nasakirali in Guria region of western Georgia.
