New U.S. Force Being Sent To Iraq To Number 'About 100'
U.S. military spokesman Steve Warren has said that the new force of special operations troops that the United States is deploying to Iraq will number around 100.
"It's really going to be a majority support personnel, everything from ... aviators to collectors. So actual forces who will do offensive or kinetic operations, it's a very small number, double digit," Warren, a spokesman for the U.S.-led military campaign against IS, said.
The U.S.-led anti-IS coalition spokesman Steve Warren has dismissed Russia's claims that Turkey is buying oil from the IS group.
"We flatly reject the notion that Turkey is working with [IS]," Warren said.
The U.S. special forces being deployed to Syria will be involved in combat but not "major combat," U.S.-led coalition spokesman Steve Warren has reportedly said.
Poland is considering how it might support the U.S.-led anti-IS coalition, Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski has said.
Waszczykowski said: "We will certainly exchange political and intelligence reports. Everything depends on the abilities of the Defense Ministry."
It is unlikely that Warsaw will send troops.
That concludes our live-blogging of the Islamic State militant group and related crises, including the ongoing tensions between Russia and Turkey. Check back here tomorrow morning for more of our continuing coverage.
Four British RAF Tornado jets have carried out their first strikes against IS targets in Syria after MPs voted last night to approve bombing.
The strikes targeted the Omar oil fields in eastern Syria and were "successful," Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said.
Lavrov 'Agreed To Short Meeting' With Turkish FM
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is to meet his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Belgrade today, Russian news agencies are reporting this morning.
"Following numerous requests from Turkey, Sergei Lavrov has agreed to a short meeting with the Turkish Foreign Minister on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council," a Foreign Ministry spokesperson told TASS.
On December 2, Lavrov said that he "would not avoid" meeting Cavusoglu in Belgrade.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the experience gained by using Russian weaponry in the "antiterrorist operation" in Syria would be used to improve those weapons.
"The Russian Army and Navy have clearly shown their fighting ability, their increased capacity," Putin said in his state of the nation address this morning.
Russian President Putin began his annual state of the nation address this morning with a minute of silence to honor the Russian military personnel killed in Syria.
Russian President Putin "touched on a sore subject -- the relations between Turkey and Russia" in his state of the nation address this morning, REN TV reports.
"We were ready to cooperate with Turkey. Probably only Allah knows why they did it," Putin said, referring to last week's downing by Turkey of a Russian Su-24 jet near the Syrian border.
"We know who in Turkey is stuffing their pockets and letting terrorists make money from stolen oil... Allah decided to punish Turkey's ruling clique," Putin added, according to REN TV.