A powerful rebel group in Aleppo which in the past received weapons from the United States has lashed out at Jordan following reports Amman would include the faction in a list of terror groups it is preparing for upcoming Syria peace talks, NOW Media reports.
The Nour al-DIn al-Zinki group said in a statement on Twitter that Jordan should "review its policy" which it said was akin to that of Syrian intelligence.
Jordan reportedly gave a list of 160 groups to be considered for inclusion on a list of commonly agreed terror groups, according to Russian media, citing an anonymous source in the Russian Foreign Ministry.
A list of groups purportedly on the terror list has been circulating on social media today after a journalist with the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi claimed to have obtained a preliminary list of the groups.
One of the groups listed is Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar, which no longer exists. The group used to be led by a Chechen militant affiliated with the North Caucasian militant group the Caucasus Emirate.
The Syrian opposition hosted by Saudi Arabia elected former Prime Minister Riad Hijab as a coordinator of a body that is expected to lead future peace talks, sources said, Reuters report.
Hijab defected from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government in 2012.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has discussed the issue of resolving the Syrian conflict in a telephone call today with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, the Russian Foreign Ministry says.
The phone call comes ahead of a meeting of world powers tomorrow in New York to discuss a peaceful solution to the civil war in Syria.
Kerry visited Moscow earlier this week for talks with Lavrov and Russian President Putin on Syria. Today's phone call was a "development" of that meeting, the Foreign Ministry said.
Alexey Pushkov, head of the State Duma lower house committee for foreign affairs, has said that the United States had been forced into dialogue with Russia over Syria and the fight against the IS group.
"It is a kind of forced decision as they never opted for it. But they might stay in the game only by holding dialogue with Russia," TASS quoted Pushkov as saying.
"The only way out for the United States is to launch a dialogue with Russia."
Pushkov made his comments during a Russian-French inter-parliamentary seminar.
Pakistan has confirmed it's part of a Saudi-led "Islamic military alliance" against terrorism in but remained vague about when exactly it joined up, AP reports.
AP quotes Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman, Qazi Khalilullah, as telling reporters "yes,we're part of it" when asked about the alliance.
Khalilullah denied yesterday's media reports that claimed Pakistan was "surprised" to hear that it was a member of the 34-nation alliance announced by Saudi Arabia earlier this week.
Iran's Mashregh News, which has ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), tweets that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is set to visit Tehran in early January to discuss the Syrian crisis.
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is to travel to Moscow for talks with Russian officials on December 20 and 21 to coordinate efforts to defeat the IS group, his office has announced.
"On December 20 and 21 Mr Le Drian will go to Russia to discuss coordination in the fight against [IS], defense ministry spokesman Pierre Bayle told a press conference today.
The United States and its allies on Wednesday conducted 18 air strikes against the IS group in Iraq and Syria in its latest round of daily air attacks against the militant group, the U.S.-led coalition has said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter returned to Iraq today for a day of meetings with Kurdish officials and for briefings about the fight against the IS group in northern Iraq, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Carter was briefed on a significant battle between IS and Kurdish militias that took place on December 16 when IS launched three separate offensives north and east of the IS-controlled city of Mosul. The Peshmerga pushed IS back, and coalition airstrikes killed some 180 IS militants, a senior military officer said.
Journalist Roozbeh Kaboly from Dutch National Television's Nieuwsuur has shared photographs taken just kilometers from the front line with IS near Palmyra in Syria.
Kaboly was on the Syrian-held side of the front line very close to the IS-held city.