This is a story that has been generating a lot of heat on social media. Here's Buzzfeed's take:
Al-Monitor's Laura Rozen has this from the Syria talks in New York today.
France24's Sophie Pilgrim has this from the New York Syria talks:
The five permanent members of the UN Security Council struggled to agree on a draft resolution endorsing an international bid to end the civil war in Syria, while separate ministerial talks began in New York today, France24 reports.
The 15-nation Security Council is scheduled to meet at 3pm ET (20:00 GMT) to discuss Syria, and it is not yet clear whether they will have a resolution to adopt.
And it now appears unlikely that the meeting will start on time.
Dutch daily current affairs program Nieuwsuur has posted the full video of its interview with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.
The video is in English with Dutch subtitles.
Iraq's joint operations command said 10 Iraqi soldiers were killed or wounded Friday by so-called friendly fire from US-led coalition aircraft west of Baghdad. AFP reports.
The incident happened during a strike on IS during close combat and took place at around 10:00 GMT south of the IS-held city of Fallujah where forces from Iraq's 3rd Division 55th Brigade had advanced on IS positions near Amirat al-Fallujah.
NATO allies have agreed to send aircraft and ships to Turkey to strengthen Ankara's air defenses on its border with Syria, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said.
The defense package is partly designed to avoid any more downings of Russian planes, Reuters notes -- although Stoltenberg did not mention Russia's military involvement in Syria. Instead, Stoltenberg said the package was in response to "the volatile situation in the region."
Turkish F-16s downed a Russian Su-24 jet near the Syrian border on November 24 in what Russia has said was an "act of hostility." Ankara says the jet had violated Turkish airspace, a claim Russia denies.
Syria's opposition wants a political transition without President Bashar al-Assad, Riad Hijab, the coordinator of an opposition negotiating body in future peace talks has said.
"We are going into negotiations on this principle, we are not entering talks (based on) anything else. There will be no concession," he told reporters this afternoon.