From our newsdesk:
IS Fighters Trapped In Ramadi After Destroying Last Euphrates River Bridge
raqi officials say Islamic State (IS) militants have destroyed a lock on the Euphrates River that served as a bridge in Ramadi as pro-government forces close in on the militant-held city to the west of Baghdad.
Iraqi forces have nearly surrounded Ramadi and have been moving into some neighborhoods of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province, during the last few days.
Iraqi Major General Ismail al-Mahlawi, the head of the government's military operations in Anbar Province, said the lock was the last remaining bridge from Ramadi's city center leading to the northwest.
He says the destruction of the bridge has left about 300 IS militants cut off and trapped in the city center.
IS militants seized Ramadi in May.
Backed by U.S.-led coalition air strikes, the pro-government forces earlier this week recaptured a military complex north of the city and a neighborhood on the city outskirts.
Syrian hardline Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham has pulled out of opposition talks in Riyadh today because of the "fundamental role...given to personalities linked to the regime" at the conference, AFP reports.
The Riyadh talks are aimed at creating a united front ahead of potential discussions with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government.
Syrian hardline Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham has withdrawn from Syrian opposition talks in Riyadh, analyst Hassan Hassan is reporting.
Hassan comments:
CNN has a couple more details about the police search in Geneva for suspects who could be linked to the November 13 terror attacks in Paris.
"We have gone from a vague threat to a precise threat," Emmanuelle Lo Verso, head of communications at the Geneva Department of Security, told CNN. She would not comment on the nature of the threat.
The statement added that the "level of vigilance" in the city has been raised and that more police have been put on the streets.
Iran analyst Arash Karami has this to say about recent reports that Iran is retreating from Syria.
AFP's Ahmad Rubaye has taken these photographs from Al-Tameem, the neighborhood in the Iraqi city of Ramadi retaken from IS by Iraqi troops.
This just in on progress made at the talks in Riyadh among Syrian opposition groups.
Fighters and a rebel negotiator in the al-Waer neighborhood of Homs in Syria have said that remaining rebels there have no intention of leaving or turning their weapons over, Syria Direct reports.
Busloads of rebels and their families left Al-Waer yesterday for rebel-controlled areas in northern Syria as part of a truce deal with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government.
But fighters, journalists, civilians and the rebel negotiator told Syria Direct today that rebels will stay in Al-Waer with light and some medium weapons in order to protect civilians.
Australia's so-called "Ginger Jihadi," a 17-year-old IS recruit who rose to notoriety after running away to Syria and appearing in an IS propaganda video, has reportedly been killed, Australian media is reporting.
Abdullah Elmir is thought by Australian counter-terrorism agencies to have been killed in a bombing raid in Syria around eight to 10 weeks ago.
AP has pieced together the movements of Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam in the months leading up to the November 13 attacks that killed 130 people.
Authorities believe that, starting in August, Abdeslam drove thousands of kilometers across Europe to "buy gear,rent cars, book rooms,scout locations and move people into place" for the attacks, AP writes.