The spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led military operation against the IS group, tweeted these images from the Anbar Operations Room in northern Ramadi, Iraq, which Iraqi government forces have succeeded in retaking from IS militants.
This concludes our live blogging of the crisis surrounding Islamic State, barring any unforeseen events, for December 9. Check back here tomorrow morning for more of our continuing coverage.
Boxing legend Muhammad Ali, 72, hit out at Islamist extremists in a statement on Thursday.
"I am a Muslim and there is nothing Islamic about killing innocent people in Paris, San Bernardino, or anywhere else in the world," Ali said in the statement.
"True Muslims know that the ruthless violence of so called Islamic Jihadists goes against the very tenets of our religion."
Ali also appeared to criticize Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump's proposal to ban Muslims entering the United States.
Syrian Opposition Meeting In Riyadh To Select Peace Talks Reps
Syrian opposition and rebel groups meeting in Riyadh have a tough task ahead of them today -- they are expected to discuss forming a delegation of 42 people to select negotiators for future peace talks with President Bashar al-Assad's government.
Syria's opposition is fragmented. There are rebel groups with different ideologies -- including hardline Islamists -- as well as political groups in Syria and in exile. One of the biggest points of contention is the role that Islam should play in Syria's future and the status of the country's many religious and ethnic minorities.
From our news desk this morning:
Turkey, Iraqi Kurdish Leaders Meet Amid Dispute Over Troops
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with the leader of Iraq's Kurdish region on December 9 in Ankara amid diplomatic efforts to resolve a dispute over Turkish troops in northern Iraq.
Erdogan and Kurdish regional President Masud Barzani reportedly discussed the need to cooperate in the fight against terrorism, which is the reason Turkey says it has stationed troops in northern Iraq to work with and train Kurdish Peshmerga forces to fight the Islamic State (IS) extremist group.
Barzani, who has long-standing ties with Ankara, also made an unannounced visit to Turkey's National Intelligence Organization and visited with spy chief Hakan Fidan during his two-day stay in Turkey.
The two presidents did not issue a statement after their hour-and-a-half meeting, but Erdogan told Al-Jazeera that the Turkish forces were deployed at the request of Iraq's leader in 2014 and Baghdad had not made an issue of it until this week.
"We were asked by Prime Minister [Haidar] al-Abadi to help train soldiers and, at his request, we set up a training camp in Bashiqa in 2014," Erdogan told the Qatar-based television channel.
Abadi "did not say a word until just now," the Turkish leader said.
Abadi over the weekend demanded that Turkey withdraw the troops, calling their deployment "a hostile act," but he more recently has sought to resolve the matter through negotiations.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said December 9 that the Turkish soldiers were dispatched to Iraq after an increase in the threat to Turkish military trainers from IS, also known as Daesh. He said the deployment was an act of solidarity, not aggression.
"These trainers in Bashiqa camp were threatened by Daesh because it is 15 to 20 kilometers from Mosul and they have only light arms," he told journalists in Istanbul. IS gained control of Mosul last year.
Davutoglu is expected to visit Baghdad soon to try to calm tensions.
Despite attempts at resolving differences, Turkey issued an advisory to its citizens on December 9 to leave all areas of Iraq except Iraq's Kurdish region due to increased security risks.
Ankara cited increasing threats to Turkish companies, as well as threats of violence, abduction, and attacks on Turkish citizens.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova is giving a press briefing.
She says that Moscow is concerned about reports that the IS group is getting stronger, including in Afghanistan.
"Threats voiced by IS to create a "springboard" for destabilizing the region are acquiring real shape," says Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova is now talking about the U.S.-led coalition against IS in Syria and Iraq.
She says that "for an entire year, the U.S. Air Force 'did not notice' convoys of IS oil tankers with smuggled oil in Syria and Iraq."
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova:
"The U.S. coalition in Syria imitates fighting with IS and real terrorism."