Russia is trying to carry out "ethnic cleansing" of Turkoman rebels in Syria's Latakia province, Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in a meeting today with Western reporters in Istanbul.
Turkomans are ethnic Turks who live in Syria.
Davutoglu also accused Russia of strengthening the IS group.
"Russia is trying to make ethnic cleansing in northern Latakia to force all Turkmen and Sunni population who do not have good relations with the regime, they want to expel them, they want to ethnically cleanse this area so that regime and Russian bases in Latakia and Tartus are protected," Davutoglu said according to Reuters.
This just in from AFP:
The United States is prepared to provide the Iraqi army with attack helicopters and additional military advisers in the fight to retake the city of Ramadi in western Iraq from IS militants, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has said
Ethnic Chechens living in the town of Ras al-Ayn and ethnic Ingush from Al-Safih in Syria's Hasakah province have called on North Caucasians not to fight alongside the IS group, the Caucasian Knot news website reports.
The first ethnic Chechen refugees settled in the town in 1864 following Russian invasions. After that, thousands of ethnic Vainakhs -- who include Chechens and Ingush -- settled in the area along the Syria-Turkey border.
Some ethnic North Caucasians in Syria are fighting in rebels groups, including a group of ethnic Circassians from Syria who are fighting alongside the Chechen-led Ajnad al-Kavkaz group in Latakia.
Check out RFE/RL's infographic exploring where IS oil ends up.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter has called for U.S. allies to step up actions against IS and said that Russia should "get on the right side" of the fight, AFP reports.
Carter made his comments at a Congressional hearing where he discussed increased military efforts against IS by the United States following the attacks in Paris and California.
The father of a man identified by French police today as the third gunman from the deadly attack on the Bataclan concert hall in Paris has told AFP that he "would have killed" his son had he known.
The third attacker, French national Foued Mohamed-Aggad, 23, went to Syria with his brother Karim and a group of people from Strasbourg, France, in late 2013 according to police sources.
His father, Said Mohamed-Aggad, said he last saw his son two years ago before he went to Syria.
The family tipped off police after his mother received a text message from Syria saying that Mohamed-Aggad had died a "martyr."
A Daghestani man who fought alongside militants in Syria has been sentenced to three years and eight months in prison, RIA Novosti reports.
The report does not say which militant group the defendant, Zelimkhan Abdullaev, fought alongside.
RIA Novosti reports only that a court in Makhachkala sentenced Abdullaev and that he was accused of fighting alongside an "illegal armed group" in Syria from June 2013 through January 2014.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said Turkey is ready to work with Russia to prevent further incidents like the November 24 downing of a Russian Su-24 jet near the Syrian border.
Russian Jets To Use Cypriot Air Base 'In Critical Situations'
Greek Cypriot President Nikos Anastasiades has said Russia can use Greek Cypriot military bases and other airports if caught in a "difficult situation," Turkey's Hurriyet Daily News reports.
“In critical situations, Russian ships or aircrafts are allowed to take supplies. This is not with an aim to [facilitate] attacks but as aid,” Anastasiades said.
“If Russian warplanes are in a difficult situation they can use the Andreas Papandreou military base or the other airports."
The In-Cyprus.com website reported that Nicosia and Moscow had reached an agreement on a request for Russia for extended facilities on Cyprus amid Russia's ongoing military actions in Syria.
Cyprus's foreign minister Ioannis Kasoulides said on December 7 that an agreement was being ironed out to allow Russian warplanes returning from strikes in Syria to use Cypriot airports in emergency situations.