Slovenia offers military instructors, equipment to fight IS
Slovenia is to offer military equipment, weapons and as many as 15 military instructors to help in the fight against the IS group, Defense Minister Andreja Katic has said.
The Slovenian military instructors would train Kurdish forces in Erbil in Iraq, probably in the second half of 2016, Katic said. The STA news agency said that in the first phase, six instructors would be deployed to Iraqi Kurdistan.
Katic's comments confirmed a media report on Feb. 2 that said Slovenia was set to upgrade its involvement in the international campaign against IS by offering 15 instructors.
Local media reported that Katic said there would be no extra costs to the ministry and that the military equipment and weapons were surplus items.
Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec told the same news conference that IS represented a threat and that Slovenian military instructors sent to Iraqi Kurdistan would not participate in military action.
Reports that Syrian army reaches outskirts of besieged Shi'ite towns
There are reports that the Syrian army has reached the outskirts of two Shi'ite towns, Nubl and Zahra, that have been under siege by Sunni rebels for three and a half years.
Al Manar, a TV station owned by the Lebanese Hizbullah group has said that the Syrian army and its allies broke the rebel siege around the two towns. According to Al Manar, the breakthrough happened after the Syrian army opened a route from towns seized from rebels in a major offensive in northern Aleppo.
Syrian state news agency SANA is also reporting that the army, "in cooperation with groups of popular committees" had broken the siege on the two villages.
Syrian state media: rebels fired rockets at civilian areas of Daraa city, killing 10
Syrian state news agency SANA is reporting that rebels have fired rockets at civilian areas of the southern city of Daraa, killing 10 civilians and wounding 41 others, mostly women and children.
SANA did not say which group fired the rockets, referring to them only as "terrorist attacks."
SANA also reports that in a separate incident today, rebels from the Islam Army (Jaish al-Islam) group fired rocket and mortar shells on the Harasta suburb near Damascus, injuring three staff members at a high school.
Preparatory phase for talks to take much longer: Syrian government delegation chief
Syrian government delegation chief Bashar al-Ja'afari has told Reuters that he expects the preparatory phase for peace talks to take longer than anticipated.
"It seems the first phase of preparations (for talks) will take a much longer time than expected," government delegation chief Bashar al-Ja'afari told Reuters in an interview in Geneva on Wednesday.
Aleppo residents reportedly warned to expel rebel fighters from the city within 48 hours
Pro-opposition news sites are reporting that the Syrian army has dropped leaflets on rebel-held areas of the city of Aleppo, warning residents that they should expel rebel fighters within 48 hours.
The leaflet told residents: "The war is coming to its end. It will be tragic for all of us if it ends with the death of your loved ones and the destruction of your homes,” the Arabic leaflet read, according to pro-opposition sites, Middle East Eye reports.
The reports have not been verified.
But they come as the Syrian army and allied forces are making gains in Aleppo, including breaking a years-long rebel siege of two Shi'ite villages, Nubl and Zahra in the north of Aleppo province.
Has Assad cut off rebels in Aleppo from Turkey?
Analyst Aaron Stein tweets that this may well be the case.
In which case, weapons and aid to rebels in Aleppo would have to be sent via the Bab al-Hawa border crossing via Idlib province.
Aron Lund tweeted this map by @PetoLucem yesterday that explained the situation as of Feb. 2; today there are reports that government forces have encircled Aleppo.
This is a big boost for Assad as talks falter in Geneva...
Islam Army 'might end up on list of terror groups': Russian media
Pro-Kremlin news agency RIA Novosti is citing a "Western diplomatic source" as saying that the Syrian Islamist rebel group the Islam Army could be included in a list of terrorist organizations if it drops out of the Syria peace talks in Geneva.
Russia has been lobbying for the Islam Army to be excluded from the talks and has said it considers the group to be a terror organization.
RIA cites the unnamed diplomatic source as saying that "if the Islam Army leaves the negotiations process, it will play into the hands of those who consider it terrorist."
Turkey bans Russian surveillance flight near Syria border
Russia's Defense Ministry has accused Turkey of violating the Open Skies Treaty by banning a planned Russian surveillance flight.
Defense Ministry official Sergei Ryzhkov said that Turkey would not allow the flight as the flight path ran along border areas.
Ties between Russia and Turkey have been strained since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syria border in November.
Senior IS commanders taking refuge in Libya
A number of senior IS commanders from Iraq and Syria are taking refuge in Libya, a top Libyan intelligence official has told the BBC.
The official said that increasing numbers of foreign fighters have arrived in IS's Libyan stronghold of Sirte.
UN suspends Syrian peace talks: BBC
The UN has suspended Syrian peace talks until Feb. 25 following a lack of progress in the first week, the BBC reports.