Dozens of militants killed in Syria during airstrikes

Former residents say ISIS fighters are hiding in civilian neighborhoods and are preventing people from fleeing.

Thirty three Isis militants have been killed in northern Syria by air strikes carried out by France and Russian Federation in the past three days, it has been reported.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for that attack as well as for the assault on Paris, sparking increasing alarm over the group’s apparent growing ambition, sophistication and reach in its terrorism campaign.

Two brothers linked to the Paris attacks both rented lodgings in the French capital days prior to the carnage, a French judicial official told The Associated Press.

USA secretary of state John Kerry said a ceasefire between Syria’s government and the opposition could be weeks away.

But Mr Lavrov said he had detected a change in the West’s position since the Paris attacks and the downing of the Russian plane. The city, which they have held since early 2014, lies on the Euphrates River at an intersection of major routes from all directions, most through agricultural areas crisscrossed by canals and tributaries of the river.

The activist, AbdAlaziz Alhamza, a nom de guerre, said France and the rest of the coalition appear to be aware of how the militant group uses human shields to protect its fighters and operations centers in the city, including a command-like facility with an underground prison, he said.

With Russian warplanes flying the same skies over Raqqa as US aircraft, Moscow also provided Washington with advance notice of the recent bombing operation against Islamic State, Cook said, as required under an aviation-safety agreement signed last month by the two countries. He spoke on condition he be identified only by the name he uses in his political activism, Khaled, for security reasons.

France agrees with Obama that Assad’s continuance in power and the war against his own people have provided fertile territory for the terrorist group to grow.

Khaled, who now lives in Turkey, is in touch with people back in Raqqa.

If the drivers were not killed by coalition attacks, the impact of destroying the vehicles would be painful for their families, who live in places like Raqqa.

Europe was on high alert Wednesday after video revealed a ninth man may have taken part in the Paris attacks, as France and Russian Federation formed an unusual alliance against Islamic State jihadists who claimed the bloodshed.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said authorities had confirmed Fan’s death and said officials “went all out to rescue the hostage after learning of the kidnapping”, according to a report Thursday on the state-run Xinhua News Agency. “Twenty bombs were dropped”, a statement said.

According to a press release by the Russian military, Tuesday’s operation involved 12 Tu-22M3 long-range strategic bombers targeting IS facilities in Syrian provinces of Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, as well as 34 cruise missiles against targets in the Aleppo and Idlib provinces.

Air strikes by France and other nations on the Islamic State (IS) stronghold of Raqqa in Syria since Sunday have killed at least 33 militants, activists say.

Nevertheless, our correspondent says Kurdish forces last week of the town have made harder from the capture the journey in northwestern Iraq, cutting off the primary direct course that is final.

“They must support the [rebel] Free Syrian Army to attack Raqqa and seize it from IS”.