An attack plot was foiled and two men arrested last week in the French region of Orleans, southwest of Paris, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has said, AFP reports.
The U.N. Security Council has strongly condemned the fighting and use of heavy weapons by Syrian government troops and armed groups in the Golan Heights, an area that has been designated a demilitarized zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces since 1974, AP is reporting.
A resolution co-sponsored by Russia and the United States and adopted unanimously by the council today calls on parties to the Syrian conflict to halt military activity there.
French police say they have averted an attack, our news desk reports:
French police have prevented two men from carrying out an attack on police and military in the city of Orleans, south of Paris, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on December 22.
Cazeneuve said two French citizens, aged 20 and 24, were being held for questioning.
He said the men were "in contact with a French jihadist in Syria and the investigation ought to establish if he ordered the attacks that one of the two arrested men has admitted they were planning to carry out."
The minister said 10 attacks had been prevented this year in France, which has been in a state of emergency since Islamist gunmen and suicide bombers killed 130 people in Paris in November.
More than 3,000 raids have taken place since the attacks, leading to 360 house arrests and 51 people jailed.
Cazeneuve also said 3,414 people had been turned away from France's borders since the state of emergency was introduced.
They were refused entry "due to the risk they present to security and public order," the minister explained. (AFP, dpa, Reuters)
We are now closing the live blog for today. Join us again tomorrow morning for all the latest news concerning Islamic State.
The battle to drive IS militants out of the center of the Iraqi city of Ramadi has entered its second day. Iraqi special forces are fighting IS street to street, the BBC reports.
Iraqi state television said this morning that the fight to dislodge IS from Ramadi's center would take days, citing army chief of staff Lt. General Othman al-Ghanemi.
That optimistic note comes a day after the spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition against IS in Syria and Iraq, Army Col. Steve Warren, warned that the fight to completely rid Ramadi of IS militants and booby traps would likely be tough.
If Ramadi is retaken, it would be a major boost to the Iraqi security forces.
Russia's air campaign in Syria has killed hundreds of civilians and caused massive destruction in residential areas, according to a report released this morning by Amnesty International.
The rights group claims the pattern of attacks "show evidence of violations of international law."
Russia has sent a 12 meter high LED Christmas tree to its Hmeymim air base in Syria's Latakia province, the Russian media is reporting this morning. The tree was sent via a transport plane and has already been erected in the base.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said this morning that Moscow is ready to work with anyone who fights terror in Syria, according to the pro-Kremlin RIA Novosti.
Speaking ahead of a meeting this morning in Moscow with the chairman of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattin Demirtas, Lavrov said that it was "fundamentally important to assemble the the possibilities of all those who are putting up a determined fight against terrorism."
Lavrov said that he would discuss the situation in Syria with Demirtas, noting that the Kurds were fighting against IS in Syria and Iraq.
"We know that among those who are on the ground and using weapons to oppose the threat of IS, [who are] against the extremist groups, there are Syria and Iraqi Kurds. Together with the Syrian army, with the Iraqi army, they are fighting for their right to live on their land," Lavrov added.
Relations between Russia and Turkey have take a nosedive after the Turkish air force shot down a Russian Su-24 jet near the Syrian border last month. Moscow has since accused Turkey of profiting from the illegal trafficking of IS oil.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has criticized Demirtas' visit to Moscow.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says that Moscow has no information about the reliability of the information in a new report published today by Amnesty International that claims Russian air strikes have killed civilians in Syria.
Peskov was asked to comment on the report in his morning press briefing.
"Of course the Defense Ministry and other relevant authorities will familiarize themselves with the provisions of this report," Peskov added.