AP has interviewed Syrians who recently escaped IS-controlled territory who say that double standards among IS militants are fostering disillusionment.
Syrians who have recently escaped the Islamic State group's rule say public disillusionment is growing as IS has failed to live up to its promises to install a utopian "Islamic" rule of justice, equality and good governance.
Instead, the group has come to resemble the dictatorial rule of Syrian President Bashar Assad that many Syrians had sought to shed, with a reliance on informers who have silenced a fearful populace.
At Least One Killed In Shelling On Turkish School Near Syrian Border
At least one person has been killed and three others wounded when two mortar shells hit a town in Kilis near Turkey's border with Syria. The shells most likely came from Syria, the mayor of Kilis has said.
Death Toll Reportedly Increases In Ongoing Clashes With IS In Deir al-Zor
The activist-run Deir al-Zor 24 news website, which publishes news from the Syrian city of Deir al-Zor, is reporting that the death toll of Syrian government forces has increased to 65 killed, amid ongoing clashes. The report cites medical sources in the Deir al-Zor military hospital.
Some 22 IS militants are reported killed, according to Deir al-Zor 24.
IS overran the western Deir al-Zor suburb of al-Bughaliya but Deir al-Zor 24 is denying reports by Syrian state media that the extremist group carried out a "massacre" there.
Turkish news website The Daily Sabah is citing military sources as saying that it was Katyusha rockets fired from an IS-controlled area of Syria and not mortar shells that hit a school in the town of Kilis near the Syrian border earlier today, killing one person.
Kilis is on the border of a roughly 100 stretch of Syrian border territory controlled by the IS group.
Reuters is reporting that the person killed when a rocket believed to have come from Syria hit a school in Kilis, Turkey, was a female school employee. A female student was wounded.
More rockets thought to be fired from Syria hit an open field near the school.
Reuters reporter Humeyra Pamuk tweets that Turkish military sources are saying that radar shows that rockets fired into Kilis came from IS-controlled areas in Syria.
The Turkish army has fired back.
Advances By IS In Libya Pose New Threat To Europe: German Defense Minister
Advances by Islamist militants in Libya poses a new threat to Europe, Germany's Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen has said.
Von der Leyen said that she did not rule out deploying German troops in Libya.
Some 3 IS Katyusha rockets hit the Turkish town of Kilis on the Syrian border earlier today, killing one woman, according to Turkey's NTV.
Five People Have Starved To Death In Syria's Madaya -- UN
Five people have starved to death in the past week in the besieged Syrian town of Madaya, the United Nations has said in a report.
Despite two aid shipments to the rebel-held town, a single biscuit sells for $15 and baby milk costs $313 per kilo.
Reuters report:
Syrian government forces and their allies have surrounded Madaya and neighboring Bqine since July 2015 and imposed increasingly strict conditions on freedom of movement.
The U.N. said the humanitarian workers who entered the town last week heard that landmines had been laid since late September to stop people leaving, but many civilians continued to try to search for food on the outskirts, and some had lost limbs in landmine explosions.
The controls on movement also meant many children had been separated from their parents, leading to symptoms of trauma and behavioral disorders.
The speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament, Sergei Naryshkin, has said that Qatar is a "full participant" Syrian peace talks.
The Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, began an official visit to Russia this morning and is expected to discuss Syria with Russian President Vladimir Putin later today.
"Over the past couple of months, we have succeeded in stepping up international efforts to promote a (political) settlement in Syria and the Vienna format -- in which Qatar is a full participant -- has and must play an important role in this," Naryshkin said.
The United Nations-led peace talks on Syria are due to start in Geneva on January 25.
By emphasizing Qatar's "full role" in talks to promote a political settlement in Syria, Russia is sending a message to Saudi Arabia that there are other players in the talks.
Saudi Arabia has slammed Russia's actions in Syria in particular its killing of prominent Syrian rebel leader Zahran Alloush in December.