Moscow maintaining contact with Damascus, Syrian opposition including Kurds
Moscow is maintaining contact with Damascus and the Syrian opposition, including Syrian Kurds, and meetings are taking place almost daily, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov has said, RIA Novosti reports.
But who exactly did Bogdanov mean by the Syrian opposition?
The only opposition figure Bogdanov mentioned was Randa Kassis, President of the Movement of the Pluralistic Society.
In emphasizing that the Kurds remember of the Syrian opposition, Bogdanov was contradicting assertions by Turkey that the Syrian Kurds could only participate in Syria peace talks on the side of the Syrian government.
German man indicted for posing with severed heads in Syria
A German man has been indicted for posing for photos with severed heads in Syria.
Federal prosecutors said the man, Aria L., 21, was charged with committing a war crime. The defendant allegedly traveled to Syria in early 2014 with the intention of joining Islamic extremist militias.
IS has used at least 89 children in suicide missions: Washington Post
There have been at least 89 cases over the past year in which the Islamic State group have employed children or teenagers in suicide missions, according to new research that indicates the terrorist group is sending youths to their deaths in greater and greater numbers, the Washington Post reports.
Turkey's Erdogan says Syrian Kurds used U.S. weapons on civilians
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said U.S.-supplied weapons had been used against civilians by the YPG, a Syrian Kurdish militia group that Ankara blames for a deadly suicide bombing.
Erdogan said he would talk to President Barack Obama about it later on Feb. 19, Reuters report.
World powers to hold Syria ceasefire talks in Geneva
Military officials from 17 countries are to meet in Geneva to discuss how to secure a cessation of hostilities in Syria, as a deadline they set expires, the BBC reports.
Representatives of the United States and Russia, which back opposing sides in the conflict, held talks earlier in an effort to agree a joint position.
But a truce looks increasingly unlikely as fighting continues onon the ground in Syria.
Notorious Australian IS militant 'worked in accounts in Mosul'
Australian media is reporting today that notorious Australian IS militant Neil Prakash -- AKA Abu Khalid al-Cambodi -- was not a frontline fighter, but worked instead in a desk job in admin and finance for the extremist group in Mosul, Iraq before he was killed in a US-led airstrike last month.
Prakash's death has not been confirmed, but the senior security adviser to the Iraqi government has said that he was almost certain the Australian died when a bank building was struck in a U.S.-led airstrike in January.
Fighting in Syria rages on despite hoped for cessation of hostilities
Fighting continues to rage in Syria today, despite hopes that a cessation of hostilities agreed by world powers in Munich last week would materialize, AFP report.
Meanwhile, Turkey intensified it's shelling of Kurdish-led forces and UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said that a February 25 date for the resumption of peace talks was no longer possible.
Turkey's Erdogan to warn Obama over Syria Kurdish fighters: AFP
American warplanes struck IS training camp in Libya: AP
The Associated Press has this update on the reports of strikes against Islamic State targets in Libya.