Russia is open to a close coordination of efforts to liquidate "hotbeds of terrorism" in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said.
In a written interview with the pro-Kremlin RIA Novosti today, Lavrov said that the fight against terrorism should be based on international law and UN Security Council resolutions.
"It has been repeatedly said that the U.S.-led coalition against IS is ineffective," Lavrov said.
"The terrorists have actually strengthened their position and extended their influence to new territory. I recall that Russia from the very start of the Syrian crisis, that is long before the terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of our fellow citizens and of French citizens, always called and still calls for the global community to make joint efforts on the basis of universal international law."
A Kurdish-Arab coalition fighting the IS group has announced the creation of a political wing -- the Syrian Democratic Council -- after a two-day conference in Syria's northeastern town of Al-Malikiya, Al-Jazeera reports.
The meeting was attended by the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its military wing, the YPG, and the Syrian Arab group the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Neither the PYD or the SDF were invited to the conference in Riyadh this week of Syrian opposition groups.
Al Aan reporter Jenan Moussa tweets this about the reports that IS militants entered the Libyan town of Sabratha yesterday.
Morocco has issued an arrest warrant for Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam. Reuters is reporting.
Abdelslam has been on the run since the November 13 attacks. He was traced to Belgium but the the trail went cold and police suspected he may have gone to Syria.
This just in from Turkey's Daily Sabah about the latest development in the spat between Iraq and Turkey over Turkey's deployment of troops to northern Iraq.
Syria's antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim has accused Turkey of refusing to return looted objects from ancient heritage sites in Syria or to provide information about them, allegations denied by the Turkish government.
Abdulkarim made his comments in an interview with Reuters in Vienna.
He said that more than 2,000 objects looted from sites taken over by IS in Syria had been seized in Turkey, which has refused to cooperate with the Syrian authorities on documenting and returning the artifacts.
"The Turkish government refuses to register (the seized objects). There is no information, no pictures. It's not transparent," Abdulkarim said.
"They should change their approach. They told us, we cannot (do this) because our law (prohibits) us from declaring what we have."
There has been some confusion and somewhat conflicting reports over what exactly happened in the Libyan town of Sabratha on December 10.
Reports are now suggesting that IS militants took over downtown Sabratha without any resistance yesterday. The militants made a show of force and then mostly retreated after talks with local leaders.
Italian journalist Daniele Raineri has this assessment:
There have been concerns that if IS takes over Sabratha, it could destroy some of the priceless Roman heritage sites there.
This is a purported image of IS militants in the Libyan city of Sabratha.
The militants took over Sabratha's downtown yesterday without any resistance, according to reports.
Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has criticized the deployment of Turkish troops and tanks to northern Iraq without Baghdad's approval, AFP reports.
No country should "send its soldiers to the territory of another state under the pretext of supporting it in fighting terrorism without the conclusion of an agreement... between the governments of the two countries," Sistani said in remarks delivered by a representative at weekly Friday Prayers.
Geneva remains on high alert today as police carry out further searches in the city for several suspected extremists who are believed to have links to the IS group, AFP reports.
The region in western Switzerland remains at alert-level three out of five, the local government told AFP this morning.
"For now, there is no change to the security situation," said spokeswoman Emmanuelle Lo Verso, who on December 10 said police were investigating "a specific threat", and were "actively searching" for suspects.