The Kremlin's official Twitter account posted two images of U.S. Secretary of State Kerry's meeting with Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov today to discuss the crisis in Syria.
Syrian government forces have resumed activity at a strategic military air base in northern Syria for the first time in over three years, Syrian state media is reporting.
The SANA news agency said that military helicopters took off from the Kweyris military base east of Aleppo today after Syrian government forces backed by Iran and by Russian air strikes broke a siege in November.
IS surrounded the base in spring 2014. Syrian rebels had begun besieging it in April 2013.
According to AFP, Syrian state TV footage showed helicopters taking off and flying over the base, as well as a live interview with Colonel Suheil Hassan, who led the forces that broke the siege.
Here's a bit more detail from our news desk about the strikes on a Syrian fuel market:
Russian Air Strikes Target Syrian Rebels' Fuel Market
Syrian monitors say air strikes on a fuel market in a rebel-held village in northern Syria have killed and wounded dozens.
The Local Coordination Committees of Syria, a network of local groups that report on protests as part of the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said the air strikes were carried out by Russian warplanes on December 15 in the village of Maarat al-Naasan.
The leader of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdurrahman, said the strikes killed and wounded at least 35 people at a market selling diesel fuel brought from areas under the control of the extremist Islamic State (IS) group.
Russia's General Staff said on December 15 that it had carried out 17 air strikes in Syria during the past 24 hours, hitting illegal oil production facilities, which it said were run by "terrorists."
It said six illegal oil production facilities and seven convoys of oil tankers were hit by Russian warplanes during the previous three days.
It also said Russian air strikes have destroyed more than 1,200 oil tankers since late September.
The United States and NATO have said Russia is targeting Western-backed rebel fighters who oppose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime but are also fighting IS militants.
Russia has previously said that all opposition fighters in Syria are "terrorists."
But the Russian General Staff on December 15 acknowledged that there are 150 anti-Assad groups fighting against IS militants that have contributed to the Syrian government's battle against the IS group.
(With reporting by AP)
Here's another item from our news desk:
Man Detained In France For Questioning Over Paris Attacks
A French judicial official and French police say a 29-year-old man has been arrested and is being held for questioning about the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.
Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor's office, said the man was arrested on the morning of December 15 at his home in Villiers-Sur-Marne, an eastern suburb of Paris.
Authorities refused to identify the man and provided no further information about his suspected link to the attacks by French-born Islamic extremists who had declared loyalty to the Islamic State militant group.
Two French police officials also confirmed the arrest.
The man can be held for questioning for up to six days before being charged or released.
(AP, AFP, and BBC)