Russia has been accused of using white phosphorous -- banned under the Geneva Convention for use in densely populated areas -- in its bombing campaign in Syria.
Video footage posted online by oppositon activists claims to show the illegal substance being dropped on an area of the Syrian city of Idlib last month.
The video has not been independently verified.
The activist group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently also claims that white phosphorous was being used in air strikes against IS in the Syrian city of Raqqa in late November,
Meanwhile, in Kosovo (from RFE/RL's news desk):
Police in Kosovo say they have arrested an ethnic Albanian suspected of trying to recruit fighters to go to Syria and Iraq and promoting "terrorist" activities on social media.
In a statement issued on December 1, police said officers had searched the man's house in a village in Hani i Elezit, 65 kilometers south of capital Pristina, where they found a pistol, a rifle, and some electronic devices.
The operation, code-named Van Damme, was part of a wider one initiated from the Brescia court in nearby Italy.
A few hundred Kosovo-born volunteers have joined the extremist Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq. They often appear on their propaganda videos warning of imminent attacks.
(AP)
Russia is not to blame for the fact that military communications channels with Turkey failed during the incident that resulted in the downing of a Russian Su-24 jet near the Syrian border, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"The fact is that we had military channel links between the militaries and they were designed, shall we say, to prevent such tragedies like the one that happened. These channels failed. And it was not because of any fault on the Russian side, that they failed intentionally or unintentionally...
As we can see, the circumstances point to the fact that no one resorted to using the channels that existed at that moment. And right now, as we know, the Russian military has suspended all contacts with their Turkish colleagues," Peskov told reporters at his morning press briefing.
The Washington Post's Moscow correspondent Andrew Roth tweets that Russia has announced the return of Russian students in Turkey.
Russia is continuing with its allegations that Turkey is buying oil from the IS group, but now says that this information is needed for the "war on terror."
A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters this morning that information on Ankara's oil purchases from IS are needed for the war on terror and not for accusations against the Turkish leadership.
"This is not a new declaration," Dmitry Peskov said of the allegation that Turkey is purchasing oil from IS.
"In this case, the main thing is to have information and use it for efforts that are focussed not on proving something or other but in the war against terrorism, this information is to be used in the war against terrorism," Peskov was quoted as saying by TASS.
Here's an item just in from our news desk:
The German cabinet has approved plans to join the international coalition fighting against the Islamic State (IS) militant group in Syria.
The mandate to commit up to 1,200 soldiers was endorsed by ministers on December 1, but still requires parliamentary approval.
It isn't yet clear when lawmakers will consider it, but Chancellor Angela Merkel's governing coalition has a large majority and approval looks assured.
Following deadly attacks by Islamic State extremists in Paris that killed 130 people, Merkel agreed to honor a request from France to provide support for its operations against IS in Syria. Germany plans to send reconnaissance aircraft, tanker planes, and a warship to the region in support roles, but won't actively engage in combat.
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the daily Bild that he doesn't expect Germany to have 1,200 soldiers participating at any one time.
(dpa, Reuters, AP)
U.S. President Barack Obama has said that he supports Turkey's right to defend itself following the downing of a Russian Su-24 jet near the Syrian border last week.
Obama made his comments after a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Paris this morning, Reuters reports.
"The United States supports Turkey's right to defend itself and its air space," Obama said.
"We discussed how Turkey and Russia can work together to de-escalate tensions."
Obama told Erdogan that "we all have a common enemy. That's [IS]," according to ABC News.
More photographs of Saja Dulaimi, IS leader Baghdadi's ex-wife, released from a Lebanese prison today in a Qatari-negotiated prisoner deal with Syria's Al-Qaeda affiliate the Al-Nusra Front.
The 16 Lebanese captives held by Syria's Al-Qaeda affiliate the Al-Nusra Front have left the prisoner swap location in Lebanese Red Cross vehicles, Lebanon's Daily Star says.
Al Aan TV's Jenan Moussa has more on comments from Saja Dulaimi, IS leader Baghdadi's ex-wife who was released today in a prisoner swap between Lebanon and the Al-Nusra Front, and who says she wants to go to Turkey.