Defense Chiefs Meet In Paris To Bolster Fight Against IS
Defense chiefs from the United States, France, Britain and four other countries are meeting in Paris today to look at ways to boost the fight against the IS group in Syria and Iraq.
"The object of today is to satisfy ourselves that the balance of the campaign is right...and that we can now capitalise on the setbacks [IS] has suffered in Iraq and move on to tighten the noose around the head of the snake in Syria in Raqqa," British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon told reporters before the meeting, Reuters reports.
Two Paris Attackers From Iraq, IS Magazine Claims
A magazine published by the IS group has identified two previously unknown militants it says were responsible for the November 13 attacks that killed 130 people in Paris.
The Dabiq magazine identified the two militants as Iraqis, naming them as Ukashah al-Iraqi and Ali al-Iraqi.
Two men who attacked the Stade de France stadium carried fake Syrian passports and have not yet been formally identified, so it is possible that these are the two Iraqis referred to by IS.
Lavrov, Kerry Begin Meeting To Discuss Syria
Russia's Foreign Ministry says that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has begun a meeting in Zurich with his U.S. counterpart John Kerry.
The main issue on the agenda is Syria and the peace talks set to start next week.
The prospects for the talks are not looking good.
The Syrian opposition has said today that it will not attend if groups invited by Russia attend.
Meanwhile, it announced that one of the opposition figures that will negotiate in talks will be Mohamed Alloush of the Islam Army, which the Syrian government says is a terrorist group.
Syria Talks Could Go Ahead On Jan. 25: Lavrov
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that he has not ruled out that Syria peace talks will start as planned on January 25 in Geneva, RIA Novosti is reporting.
"We shall see," he told journalists before his meeting -- ongoing right now -- in Zurich with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
Morale High Among Russian Military In Syria: Ministry
Morale is at "the very highest level" among Russian military personnel involved in Russia's mission in Syria, Defense Ministry spokesman Nikolai Pankov has said.
Pankov added that a draft law has been agreed that would confer veteran status on all Russian military personnel involved in the military campaign in Syria.
Russia Carried Out 16 Sorties In Past 24 Hours In Syria
Russian war planes carried out 16 sorties against 57 militant infrastructure targets in Syria in the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry says.
The Ministry said that because of poor weather conditions and to avoid putting civilians at risk, sorties were carried out only in Latakia and Deir al-Zor provinces.
Meanwhile, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is claiming that some 3,000 people including 893 IS militants have been killed by Russian air strikes since they began at the end of September.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has taken to Facebook to share her thoughts about the start of Foreign Minister Lavrov's meeting today with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
"Kerry came into the meeting room. He looked at the wide table with an insert and said that it would be good to reduce the distance between the delegations. Then Lavrov entered. They exchanged handshakes, greeted each other and said Happy New Year....
"We shall see," Lavrov replied to a question from journalists about the prospects for the meeting between the Syrian opposition and representatives from Damascus going ahead on Jan. 25. The media left and the meeting started.
Whether it will be possible to reduce the difference between the delegations, and more to the point, between their positions, without reconfiguring the tables, the meeting will show."
Russia Says It Is Continuing Its Humanitarian Ops In Syria
Amid claims by a monitoring group that Russian air strikes have killed at least 3,000 people since they began in September, Russia's Defense Ministry has said that Russia is continuing with humanitarian operations in rebel-besieged areas in Syria.
Russia air dropped 50 tons of aid into besieged Deir al-Zor on January 15 and another consignment is planned, Defense Ministry official Igor Konashenkov said.
Deir al-Zor is mostly held by the IS group, whose militants are besieging the remaining government-held areas of the city. Residents there said that they fear a "massacre" if IS overruns the entire city.