The English-language news site Libya's Channel is reporting that IS is attacking Libya's Oil Crescent, which includes the two oil refinery ports of al-Sidra and Ras Lanuf, from three sides.
Danish analyst Tore Hamming points out that IS's advances against Libyan oil refineries will have "critical implications for Libya's future oil export."
But as Libyan analyst Mohamed Eljarh notes, both of Libya's main oil terminals -- al-Sidra and Ras Lanuf have been closed for more than a year with no exports, even though Libyan employees are still working at both sites.
IS militants are also advancing on Libya's al-Sidra oil terminal, according to reports.
Libyan freelance journalist Suliman Ali Zway tweets that IS began an offensive at 8 a.m. local time this morning to captured al-Sidra.
Hizballah and Syrian army troops have reportedly killed three civilians and injured four more as they fled Madaya, a besieged Sunni town near the Lebanese border, Lebanon's NOW Media reports, citing a report this morning by the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
Madaya has been besieged by Syrian pro-government forces since July 2015.
Libya analyst Mohamed Eljarh, a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council, tweets this about IS's fresh advances in Libya towards the oil terminal at Ras Lanuf. Eljarh asks whether IS could be attempting to take over Libya's oil terminals in the hope that this will make it harder for it to be targeted in Western air strikes.
The Libya Observer tweets that some families are starting to leave Ras Lanouf, an oil terminal town around 60 kilometers east of Bin Jawad in Libya, which is now controlled by the IS group. Ras Lanouf is 23 kilometers east of Sidra.
The Libya Observer says that there are clashes between IS-aligned militants and those from the Ibrahim Jadhran group.
The IS group in Libya has announced that it has taken control of the town of Bin Jawad in the Sirte district, tweets France 24 reporter Wassim Nasr.
Bin Jawad is located east of Sirte and is a strategic town located around 60 kilometers west of the oil terminal at Ra's Lanuf.
Pakistan's law minister Rana Sanaullah, has said that counter terrorism officials in the eastern Punjab province have arrested 42 militant suspects with alleged links to the IS group over the weekend.
Those arrested had been tasked with setting up sleeper cells for IS, and include purported IS Islamabad chief Amir Mansoor, his deputy Abdullah Mansoori and the group's chief for Sindh province, Umer Kathio, AP reports.
Khaled Khoja, the president of the Western-backed opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC) is to visit China this week, Reuters reports.
Khoja will be in China from January 5-8 will meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing this morning.
China has called for a political resolution to the Syrian crisis and is seeking to extend ties with all sides in the conflict.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said that Russia must play a crucial role in fighting terrorism and in the conflicts in Syria and Iraq.