Syrian hardline Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham has pulled out of opposition talks in Riyadh today because of the "fundamental role...given to personalities linked to the regime" at the conference, AFP reports.
The Riyadh talks are aimed at creating a united front ahead of potential discussions with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government.
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IS Fighters Trapped In Ramadi After Destroying Last Euphrates River Bridge
raqi officials say Islamic State (IS) militants have destroyed a lock on the Euphrates River that served as a bridge in Ramadi as pro-government forces close in on the militant-held city to the west of Baghdad.
Iraqi forces have nearly surrounded Ramadi and have been moving into some neighborhoods of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province, during the last few days.
Iraqi Major General Ismail al-Mahlawi, the head of the government's military operations in Anbar Province, said the lock was the last remaining bridge from Ramadi's city center leading to the northwest.
He says the destruction of the bridge has left about 300 IS militants cut off and trapped in the city center.
IS militants seized Ramadi in May.
Backed by U.S.-led coalition air strikes, the pro-government forces earlier this week recaptured a military complex north of the city and a neighborhood on the city outskirts.
Prosecutors in Turkey are seeking 35-year prison terms for the human traffickers held responsible for the drowning of a three-year-old Syrian boy, Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu is reporting.
Photos of Aylan Kurdi, who washed up dead on a beach in the resort of Bodrum in September, sparked international outrage over the refugee crisis.
The Anadolu Agency says the prosecutor's office in the resort of Bodrum on Thursday accused the two Syrians of "deliberate negligence" and of migrant trafficking, AP reports.
Turkey has begun building a wall along an 82-kilometer stretch of Turkey's border with Syria that is under IS control on the Syrian side, according to Turkey's Dogan news agency.
Four-meter high slabs are being put in place along the border in Kilis and Gaziantep provinces, Dogan said.
The Syrian opposition meeting in Riyadh has called for an all-inclusive, democratic state for Syria, Reuters is reporting.
Hardline Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham has dropped out of the talks.
AFP has more details on Syrian hardline Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham's pullout of the Syrian opposition talks in Riyadh this afternoon.
Ahrar al-Sham said in a statement that it has pulled out of the talks because of "the fundamental role... given to personalities linked to the regime."
The rebel faction pointed to the National Coordination Commitee for Democratic Change, a coalition of non-armed opposition parties and figures based in Syria and established in June 2011. The Committee has participated in talks organized by Moscow in 2014 and 2015.
Ahrar al-Sham also said it "rejects the outcomes" of the Riyadh talks and said that they "did not affirm the identity of our Muslim people" in Syria.
Ahrar al-Sham is aligned with Al-Qaeda affiliate, the Al-Nusra Front, and complained of a "lack of representation of jihadist factions at a level matching their....role" on the ground in Syria.
Iran has said that some terrorist groups linked to IS are involved in the Syrian opposition talks in Riyadh, according to Fars News, which is close to Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
"The most important thing is that some terrorist groups linked with IS were present at that meeting," deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said.
Amir-Abdollahian said that these "terrorists" would not be allowed to decide Syria's future and noted that Iran did not approve of the Riyadh talks.
Iran is recruiting Pakistani Shi'ites to fight in Syria, Reuters reports:
While there has been no official announcement of their total numbers, a regional source familiar with the issue said there were hundreds of Pakistanis fighting in Syria, many stationed around the shrine of Mohammad's granddaughter Zeinab.
U.S. Central Command has this update about U.S.-led coalition strikes against IS.
The number of terror suspects being arrested in the UK has risen by a third to record levels in just a year as women and young teenagers are increasingly lured by the IS group, the Daily Telegraph reports.
UK police detained 315 people under terror laws from January through September compared with 235 in the previous 12 months, Home Office statistics show.