U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said that it may be possible for Syrian rebels and the Syrian government to cooperate against militants without Syrian President Bashar al-Assad having left power, Reuters reports.
Kerry said that it would be "exceedingly difficult" to achieve this if rebel forces did not have confidence that Assad would eventually go.
The idea that Syrian government forces could unite with rebels to fight against extremists was voiced by Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in a December 2013 interview with Russian TV. Lavrov said that "everything must be done to create a battle-worthly alliance of the government and the patriotic opposition against the terrorist interlopers who flock to Syria from around the world."
Officials: San Bernardino Gunwoman Pledged Allegiance To IS, No Evidence IS Directed The Attack
The New York Times has more on the breaking reports that Tashfeen Malik, the woman who helped carry out the shooting in San Bernardino, California on Wednesday had pledged allegiance to the IS group in a Facebook post.
Federal law enforcement officials told the New York Times that there is no evidence that IS directed Malik and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, to launch the attacks.
“At this point we believe they were more self-radicalized and inspired by the group than actually told to do the shooting,” one of the officials told the New York Times.
Fourteen people were killed and 21 wounded in the attack.
Russia Calls On Coalition To Share Syria Drone Intelligence
Russia's Defense Ministry says that over the past days, there has been a threefold increase in the number of unmanned aircraft (UAVs) operated by the U.S.-led coalition in Syria.
Sometimes as many as 50 UAVs have been operating at the same time, the Ministry said, according to RIA Novosti.
The information gathered by the coalition drones should be shared, because it relates to illegal oil smuggling, Defense Ministry official Gen. Maj. Igor Konashenkov said
"I want to draw your attention to the fact that most of the UAVs of the so-called coalition are carrying out reconnaissance above oil fields and along the Syria-Turkey border, across which most of the contraband oil trafficking is happening," Konashenkov said.
"You understand very well that our colleagues, who have conducted large scale video monitoring in these areas, could, if so desired, shared this information with the public -- what is happening on the Syria-Turkey border, in what volumes and how the terrorists are selling oil."
Russia has accused Turkey of involvement in illegal sales of IS oil, allegations that Turkey has said are slanderous.
German reconnaissance planes will soon arrive in Turkey's Incirlik air base to support the U.S.-led coalition's fight against the IS group, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said.
Analyst Aaron Zelin tweets this comment about the San Bernardino shootings, following news that the female attacker pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a Facebook post during the attack:
Journalist Michael Weiss tweets this on the Paris attacks: French and Belgian police are searching for two new suspects, the Belgian prosecutor has said.
Peter Spiegel of the Financial Times adds this on the report that the Belgian prosecutor has said two more Paris attacks suspects are being sought.
The prosecutor says that four suspects are at large.
Suspect Salah Abdeslam traveled twice to Hungary in September in a rental car and on one occasion was stopped between Hungary and Austria, traveling with two people carrying fake Belgian IDs.
AFP's Danny Kemp has tweeted these pictures of the two new suspects the Belgian police are now hunting for in connection to the November 13 Paris attacks.
The two men used fake Belgian IDs to help suspect Salah Abdeslam travel to Hungary in September.
Russia's Defense Ministry has given a press briefing about the past week's air strikes by Russian war planes in Syria.
A ministry spokesman said that in the past week Russia has flown 431 sorties from the Hmeymim airbase in Latakia and carried out 1,458 "pinpoint strikes on terrorist objectives" in the provinces of Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia, Hama, Homs, Deir Ezzor and Raqqa.
All of the Russian bombers were escorted by Sukhoi Su-30SM fighters, the Ministry said.
Belgium Appeals For Public Help In Search For Two Paris Suspects
Belgian federal prosecutors have appealed to the public in the search for two men who traveled in a rental car with key Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam to Hungary in September, Reuters reports.
Police believe that the two men may have links to the Paris attacks.
Abdeslam was in Paris at the time of the attacks. Federal prosecutors say he traveled twice to Budapest in September in a rental car.
On September 9 he was stopped at the Austria-Hungary border in a Mercedes accompanied by two men who had fake Belgian ID cards with the names Samir Bouzid and Soufiane Kayal.
Abdeslam is still on the loose. A senior European counterterrorism official told CNN late yesterday that his trail has gone cold.