Kurdish and Turkish media are reporting that IS has shelled the Bashiqa military base in northern Iraq where Turkish soldiers are stationed. One Turkish soldier has reportedly been wounded.
Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that it is not possible to say that Russian operations in Syria will be over quickly, RIA Novosti reports.
Shoigu made his comments this morning in a closed-door session at Russia's lower house of parliament, according to Vladimir Gutenev, deputy head of the lower house's Industry Committee.
The Defense Minister reportedly said that this was because "we are seeing an influx of new recruits into the ranks of the terrorists and an absence of any war on terror on other fronts," Gutenev said.
Shoigu also said that the timescale for the Russian operation depended on how much the West, "who have been personally confronted with the problem of terrorism, will honestly cooperate," according to Gutenev.
Russia Publishes 'The Terrible Tale Of IS'
Girls who stop wearing short skirts and boys who refuse to wear ties could be under the influence of IS recruiters, according to a new anti-radicalization guidebook for parents published in Russia.
The guidebook is titled "The Terrible Tale Of IS" and is designed to help students and their parents resist the influence of IS recruiters, Interfax reports.
A joint project of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation and the CIS Antiterrorism Center, the guidebook contains helpful hints for parents on how to spot whether their child has become radicalized, according to Elena Sutormina of the Civic Chamber.
Parents are advised to watch for changes in their teens' clothing style.
Girls who suddenly stop wearing short skirts and low-cut tops and boys who stop wearing ties and start showing a penchant for darker clothing could be influenced by radical Islam, the guidebook warns.
Sutormina also advises parents to watch out for teenagers who suddenly start to study or even quote from the Quran or who become more detached and withdrawn.
A lot of new converts are former atheists who were "disappointed with that lifestyle," Sutormina added.
"There is a romantic story, you need Allah, you are the chosen one... but it's just business,they need human resources."
The U.S.-led coalition against IS in Syria and Iraq has posted this update to Facebook about the latest military strikes against the extremists.
Sweden has said that it will send a transport plane and logistical support to Mali and other parts of Africa to free up French forces stationed there and let them join the fight against the IS group, Reuters reports.
Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom told reporters France had not asked Sweden directly for air surveillance support.
"What they immediately ... named was what is called 'back fill' - that is you add to support, mainly in Africa: the Central African Republic, Mali because it frees up soldiers and resources for them."
Italy is to send a detachment of around 500 soldiers to defend Iraq’s largest dam, a year after it was recaptured from IS militants by Kurdish forces backed by U.S. air strikes, The Telegraph reports.
The troops will provide security for an Italian firm that has been awarded the contract to repair the Mosul dam, which is around 40 miles north of the IS-controlled city of Mosul.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has said that it was unacceptable that the majority of Russian air strikes in Syria continue to target opposition forces rather than IS militants, Reuters reports.
"It is unacceptable that Russian action is weakening the opposition and thus giving advantage to the very [IS] forces that they claim to be engaged against," Hammond said.
The U.S.-led coalition against the IS group has tweeted this infographic explaining its strikes against IS targets between December 8-14.
Russia's Defense Ministry says that in the past 24 hours it has carried out 59 sorties against 212 targets in Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia, Hama, Homs, Hasaka and Raqqa provinces.
"The terrorists continue to suffer losses in terms of manpower and materiel," the Ministry wrote in a post on Facebook.
Russian airstrikes are systematically targeting the infrastructure of Turkoman areas of Latakia province in northwest Syria to prevent their return, Ahmet Arnavut, a senior Turkoman rebel commander who controls Turkoman forces in the Bayırbucak region, has said.
Arnavut said that the strikes had hit mosques, schools, roads and homes belonging to Turkomans, a Turkic ethnic group living in Syria.
"Within a month, Russia did what the regime could not since the beginning of the war," Arnavut told Turkey's Anadolu Agency.
"They are hitting vacant villages with bombers and helicopters. They are sending a message to Turkmen by destroying houses where no one lives - 'There is nothing left for you here. Don't think about returning'."