MPs in the UK are set to vote later today on whether to back air strikes in Syria against the IS group.
The UK is already a member of the U.S.-led anti-IS coalition in Iraq.
British Prime Minister David Cameron says that IS is a threat to Britain and is expected to win parliamentary approval for the UK to extend its air strikes against IS to Syria.
Before the vote there will be a 10 hour debate.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has accused the U.S.-led coalition of helping the IS group expand in Syria and recruit more militants.
Assad praised Russia's air strikes in Syria, saying they had helped to shrink IS. Russia has been accused of targeting rebels who are not IS militants in Syria.
He also accused the West of supporting "terrorists" in Syria with arms.
Syrian state news site SANA has published a full transcript of Assad's interview with a Czech television station.
Assad's comments on the U.S.-led anti-IS coalition's bombing IS targets in Syria:
Assad: According to the facts, since the beginning of that coalition, if you want to talk about facts not opinions, ISIS has expanded, and their recruits from around the world have increased. While since the participation of the Russians in the same so-called fight against terrorism, ISIS has been shrinking and Al Nusra of course and other terrorist groups. So, this is reality. The facts are telling.
Assad also reiterated an argument he has made in earlier interviews: that air strikes are not enough to defeat "terrorists" and that the Syrian Army is effective because it is able to target them on the ground:
Assad: You cannot kill terrorists or destroy terrorism from the air, you cannot, it is almost impossible, the Americans have been trying this in Afghanistan for how long? More than 12 or 13 years. Did they achieve anything? Nothing. Terrorism is still strong in Afghanistan. So you cannot. You need cooperation from within that country, any power. The major power in Syria is the Syrian army and of course the government...
Assad also commented on the downing of the Russian Su-24 jet by Turkey near the Syrian border:
Assad:...I think it has shown the relentlessness of Erdogan who let us say lost his nerves just because the Russian intervention has changed the balance on the ground. So, the failure of Erdogan in Syria, the failure of his terrorist groups means his political demise, so he wanted to do anything in order to put obstacles in front of any success. So, he did it, but I do not think it will change any balance. The war against terrorism is continuing. The Russian supportive participation is going to be stronger, it is strong anyway, and I think there is no way back on that regard, whether he does it again, this way or another way.
Russian Su-24 Pilot Buried In Lipetsk
The funeral for Oleg Peshkov, the Russian pilot killed after Turkey downed his Su-24 jet near the Syrian border last week, is underway in Lipetsk, TASS reports.
Following the funeral service in the Nativity of Christ cathedral, the public has been invited to attend a memorial service in the local cultural center.
Peshkov will be buried in the city's cemetery, and a memorial may also be erected in Lipetsk's Aviators Square. The local authorities are also mulling naming a street after him, according to TASS.
We are now closing the live blog for today. Joanna Paraszczuk will be back tomorrow with more updates on Islamic State and its ongoing impact on the wider world.
German cabinet OKs military mission against IS in Syria, AP reports:
The German Cabinet approved plans Tuesday to commit up to 1,200 soldiers to support the international coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Syria.
The mandate still requires parliamentary clearance but Chancellor Angela Merkel's governing coalition has a huge majority and its approval looks assured. Senior lawmakers from her conservative bloc expected a vote on Friday.
Following the Paris attacks, Merkel agreed to honor a request from France to provide support for its operations against IS in Syria.
Germany plans to send up to six Tornado reconnaissance planes, tanker aircraft and a frigate to help protect the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle in the eastern Mediterranean, but won't actively engage in combat.
Two Tornados and a tanker could be sent to Turkey's Incirlik air base next week if parliamentary approval comes this week, though for logistical reasons reconnaissance flights won't start before January, Defense Ministry spokesman Jens Flosdorff said.
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the daily Bild he doesn't expect Germany to have 1,200 soldiers participating at any one time. He said that upper limit includes a significant "safety buffer."
"We are doing what is militarily needed, what we can do best and can accept politically," he said.
Left-leaning opposition parties in Parliament are deeply skeptical, questioning whether there is sufficient legal basis for the move.
"The legal question is not the only one," Simone Peter, a leader of the Greens, told ARD television. "We say clearly that this deployment also has no political aim, no political concept, and so it is irresponsible."
The German military's biggest current foreign deployment is in NATO's Resolute Support training mission in Afghanistan, where it has just under 1,000 troops. It had some 5,000 soldiers there at the height of the previous combat mission.
Germany also plans to increase its involvement in Mali, where it currently has just over 200 soldiers.
Latest from our news desk on the Istanbul subway bomb:
An explosion near an Istanbul subway station has caused some injuries, Turkish media are reporting.
The cause of the explosion on an overpass of the central Bayrampasa station is still unknown.
District Mayor Atilla Aydiner said the blast occurred during rush hour and that five people were injured near the station, where the subway cars run above ground.
Aydiner said the blast could have been caused by a pipe bomb.
But Istanbul city officials said the blast could have been caused by an electrical transformer.
Istanbul's entire subway system was closed after the blast but it has since reopened.
Istanbul is Turkey's largest city with a population of some 15 million people.
The country has been on high alert since October, when more than 100 people were killed by two explosions during a peace march in the capital, Ankara. (AP, AFP, TASS)
AP has more details on the explosion in Istanbul, which a local mayor and police sources have said was caused by a bomb and which wounded five people.
The bomb was left on barriers on the overpass, said Atilla Aydiner, the mayor for Istanbul's Bayrampasa district. Earlier, Istanbul's governor said one person was slightly injured in the blast.
The explosion occurred at 1530 GMT (10:30 a.m. EST) at an overpass near the city's Bayrampasa subway station, on the European side of Istanbul. Several ambulances and police vehicles were sent to the area.
The Dogan news agency said it was a hand-made cluster bomb. Dogan also obtained closed-circuit TV footage showing an explosion looking like a firework display in the night sky. The agency's footage also showed a white van on the overpass, with large holes in its windshield, apparently damaged in the explosion. The Anadolu Agency identified an injured person as a 36-year-old man and said he wasn't in serious condition. It wasn't immediately clear if he was in the vehicle at the time of the explosion.