Turkish-Saudi Arabia ground operation in Syria not on agenda: Cavusoglu
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said that a military ground operation in Syria by Turkey and Saudi Arabia is not on the agenda and any such move would need to involve all countries in the U.S.-led coalition against the IS group, Reuters report.
Russian airstrikes are the biggest obstacle to achieving a ceasefire in Syria, Cavusoglu added.
Libya's NOC warns of more IS attacks on oil facilities
The head of Libya's National Oil Company (NOC) has warned that IS militants will carry out more attacks on the country' s oil facilities unless a UN-backed unity government is approved.
Mustafa Sanalla told Reuters that suspected IS militants had staged their latest attack against Libya's oil infrastructure late Feb.18 or Feb. 19, setting fire to one production tank and damaging another at the Fida oil field.
Syria bombings call 'provisional' ceasefire agreement into question
Yesterday's deadly bombings by the IS group in government-controlled Alawite and Shi'ite areas of Damascus and Homs have put an already shaky "provisional agreement" on a ceasefire in Syria in jeopardy, the Guardian reports.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he had reached an agreement with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Feb. 21, after some signs that Moscow has been putting pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to comply.
IS claims responsibility for deadly attacks in Syria
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a series of deadly bomb attacks on Feb. 21 in the Syrian cities of Damascus and Homs, which left at least 140 people dead.
Four blasts in the southern Damascus suburb of Sayyida Zeinab killed at least 83 people, state media say.
In Homs, 57 people, most of them civilians, were killed in a double car bombing.
Both of Sunday's attacks targeted government controlled areas dominated by Islamic minorities reviled by the the extremist Sunni IS group. The Sayyida Zeinab suburb is home to a Shi'ite shrine said to contain the grave of the Prophet Muhammad's granddaughter.
The Homs attacks targeted an Alawite neighborhood.
This concludes our live blogging of the Syrian crisis and Islamic State for Friday, February 19. Check back here on Monday for more of our continuing coverage.
Red Cross alarmed at situation in Syria's Aleppo: AFP
The International Committee of the Red Cross has said that it is deeply alarmed by the situation in Syria's Aleppo province, where heavy fighting between Russia backed government forces and rebels has displaced tens of thousands of people.
According to AFP, the ICRC said that it was "deeply alarmed by the situation in the Aleppo region, where fighting is intensifying, hospitals and health workers have been targeted, people have no water or electricity and more than 70,000 have now fled their homes."
Clashes erupt between Iraqi tribesmen, Islamic State group in Fallujah
There have been deadly clashes between Sunni Arab tribesmen and Islamic State militants inside the IS stronghold of Fallujah today, AFP reports.
Fallujah is one of two Iraqi cities controlled by the IS group. Conditions inside Fallujah are reportedly dire, with Anbar governor Sohaib al-Rawi saying that the situation there had reached a "state of famine."
Syrian medics accuse Russian pilots of targeting hospitals: FT
Syrian doctors say that Syria's hospitals are coldly selected targets of the campaign by Russia to help Syrian president Assad recapture rebel territory in Idlib and Aleppo provinces, the Financial Times has reported.
Syrian medics have blamed Russia for airstrikes earlier this week that destroyed a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Syria's northern province of Idlib. At least 25 people died in the attack on February 15.
U.S. officials say Libya strikes likely killed senior Tunisian militant
American airstrikes on a Islamic State camp in Sabratha, Libya have "likely" killed a senior Tunisian extremist, Noureddine Chouchane, U.S. officials say.
Chouchane has been linked to two attacks that took place in Tunisia last year.