Breaking news from Germany on the fight against IS in Syria.
AP has a little more information about the German Parliament's approval to send troops to support the fight against IS in Syria. More details expected soon.
This is the result of the vote in Germany's parliament over air strikes against IS targets in Syria: 445 voted in favor, 146 voted against.
Kadyrov: 'Trace Of CIA' In IS Beheading Of Russian Citizen
The head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, has said that there is a "trace of the CIA" in the beheading by IS militants of a Russian citizen. Kadyrov gave mixed messages about Khasiyev's possible links to Russian intelligence agencies, at first insisting that he was not a Russian agent, then saying the possibility Khasiyev had "some connection" with Russian authorities could not be ruled out.
Magomed Khasiyev was beheaded in Raqqa by a Russian-speaking militant after IS accused him of being a Russian "spy."
Kadyrov said there was no evidence that Khasiyev -- a Muslim convert from Russia brought up in Chechnya -- had worked for the Russian security services.
"You can say with some certainty that in this case there is a trace of the CIA," Kadyrov wrote on his Instagram account.
"Information sources who have links with IS have repeatedly noted that Western intelligence agencies are sharing information under the guise of information leaks about individuals who can carry out certain tasks for the intelligence services. Maybe Magomed went in the role of a 'Russian spy'."
Kadyrov then went on to say that perhaps Khasiyev did have "certain connections" to Russian intelligence services:
"We've never made a secret of the fact that in Syria there are groups who are carrying out tasks to neutralize bandits who post a real threat to Russia. However Khasiyev had nothing to do with them. So in this case it is impossible to completely rule out that he had certain connections with some of the country's authorities. At the slightest suspicion, IS bandits brutally beat their accomplices, they beat "confessions" [out of people], and then execute them.
This same practice was carried out by the international terrorists who were active in Chechnya," Kadyrov said.
The Chechen leader went on to say that Khasiyev's killers would be punished.
"If he [Khasiyev] was not an IS militant, then those who are guilty of his execution will get their just punishment when they least expect it," he said.
German parliament OKs joining anti-IS fight, our news desk reports:
Germany's lower house of parliament has approved government plans to join the military campaign against Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria.
Of the 598 lawmakers who took part in the vote on December 4, 445 voted for, 146 against, and seven abstained.
The mission will include sending six Tornado reconnaissance jets, a frigate to help protect the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, refueling aircraft, and up to 1,200 military personnel.
Germany will not join countries like Britain, France, the United States and Russia in conducting air strikes.
The coalition has stepped up its campaign against the group in the wake of last month's terrorist attacks in Paris.
IS claimed responsibility for the massacre in which 130 people were killed. (AP, Reuters)
Israel has trained against Russia's S-300 advanced antiaircraft system, military and diplomatic sources told Reuters.
The S-300, which Russia has deployed in Syria and which Russia plans to deploy to Iran, could limit Israel's ability to strike in these countries.
The sources said a Russian S-300 system sold to Cyprus 18 years ago and located on Crete was activated during joint exercises between the Greek and Israeli air forces in April-May this year.
Russia has asked Canada to remove a website that has published photographs and details of Russian pilots involved in air strikes in Syria, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department for New Challenges and Threats, Ilya Rogachev, has said.
The website is under Canadian jurisdiction, Rogachev said according to pro-Kremlin RIA Novosti.
The Canadian authorities are currently "considering" the matter, Rogachev added.
Russian Media Dig Into Past Of 'Jihadi Tolik'
Russia's Life News, a pro-Kremlin site with ties to the country's security services, has been digging into the past of the IS militant who beheaded a Russian citizen on video earlier this week.
The militant, which Life News earlier named as Anatoly Zemlyanka, 28, has been nicknamed "Jihadi Tolik," a nod to Mohammed Emwazi, the man alleged to be the IS militant seen in a number of IS videos showing the beheadings of hostages and who had the nickname "Jihadi John."
Zemlyanka is thought to have joined IS in 2013.
Life News reports that it has interviewed Zemlyanka's brother, Taras Zemlyanka, who says that he had not spoken to his brother for three years and had no idea he had gone to Syria.
"The family doesn't have any relationship with him. I don't even know what he's doing. I also don't know what religion he had. I had no idea he had become an IS executioner," Taras Zemlyanka is quoted as saying.
"Jihadi Tolik" had left his hometown of Noyabrsk and was living abroad, his relatives said.
The IS militant had been an unremarkable student who his former schoolteachers struggled to remember, Life News said.
"He was a bad student, his average grade was a D plus, let's say. Best case -- C minus. He wasn't a hooligan. On the contrary, he was quiet, an inconspicuous meek sort," his former teacher recalled.
Russian economic sanctions will not bring Turkey to its knees, Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said, RFE/RL's Radio Svoboda reports.
Davutoglu once again defended Turkey's actions in downing a Russian warplane near the Syrian border on November 24, saying the Su-24 jet had violated Turkish airspace and that Turkey would not apologize for defending its borders.
The Turkish prime minister also said that "for moral reasons" Turkey could not allow planes that were bombing areas where Turkomans lived in Syria to fly in its airspace.
Davotuglu made his comments from Azerbaijan's capital, Baku, where he is on a visit.
France Carries Out Surveillance Flights Over IS-Controlled Libya
French military aircraft have carried out reconnaisance and intelligence flights over areas of Libya controlled by the IS group and plan to carry out additional missions, a presidential press document has shown, Reuters reports.
Two missions were carried out on November 20 and 21 around the towns of Sirte and Tobruk. Sirte is controlled by IS.