Aine Lesley Davis was arrested after Turkish intelligence worked with British MI6 to monitor the movements of a messenger linked to Jihadi John inside the Syrian city of Raqqa and received information on Davis’ plans, Hurriyet said.

Who is ‘Jihadi John’?

Davis, a former drug offender from West London turned-ISIS jihadist, disappeared in Syria in 2013 to fight with ISIS, officials said.

Davis was noncommunicative during the interrogation “and all information was gathered through a digital investigation of his phone line,” the newspaper said.

cnn.com

Turkey’s foreign minister says the country and its allies are planning operations to clear a stretch of Turkey’s border with Syria of Islamic State militants.

Feridun Sinirlioglu told the state-run Anadolu Agency late Tuesday that Turkey would not to allow the IS group to remain a threat to Turkey’s borders.

Sinirlioglu said: “When the plans are complete our operations (against IS) will intensify. You will see this in the coming days.”

The IS group controls a 98-kilometer (60 mile) portion of Syria’s border with Turkey, allowing the group to smuggle in fighters, arms and equipment.

Turkey has taken a more active role in the fight against IS in the past year, joining airstrikes against the group in Syria and allowing U.S. warplanes to use its bases.

ap.org

The Russian military has fired multiple cruise missiles from its ships in the Mediterranean aimed at the Isis stronghold of Raqqa, according to reports.

Vladimir Putin has pledged to escalate his military campaign in Syria after it was confirmed that a bomb brought down a Russian airliner over Sinai.

US officials were quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying Russia had launched a “significant number” of strikes in Syria using both sea-launched cruise missiles and long-range bombers.

The French daily Le Monde cited senior French government officials as saying Russian missiles had struck Isis positions in Raqqa, its de facto capital in its Syrian territories.

According to reports, Russian officials gave their US counterparts notice ahead of the strikes, in a sign of closer cooperation between the two states after talks between Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama at the G20 summit.

Videos showing alleged cruise missiles flying and crashed in Syria appeared across social media on Tuesday, though their provenance could not be immediately verified.

independent.co.uk

The Kurdish Peshmerga have countered an Islamic State (IS) attack in Kaske, killing at least 50 IS insurgents in the process.

Peshmerga Commander on the Kaske frontline Kamaran Hawrami told BasNews that on Sunday night, an attack by over 50 militants was successfully repelled with the assistance of coalition airstrikes.

“They had a plan to raid the Peshmerga frontline in Kaske, but their plan was discovered and eventually they were all killed,” said Hawrami.

Photos and identities will be revealed to the media soon, he said.

Kaske is located to the north of Mosul. Peshmerga forces in the area have regularly defeated IS attacks, inflicting heavy damage.

Following the liberation of Sinjar by Kurdish forces in coordination with the international coalition, IS insurgents have launched frequent attacks on Peshmerga around Mosul.

basnews.com

The Minister of Culture and Tourism and Antiquities , Faryad Roandzi called Holland to the need to support an Iraqi – Italian project decision that will be submitted to the United Nations by sending

an international force to protect the effects of which were looted, theft and destructed by ISIS terrorists since its control over the northern and western regions of the country in mid of last year.

This came during a meeting at the ministry’s headquarters, and the Dutch Ambassador ,Jan Temans in Baghdad, according to a statement issued by the ministry

The statement said that the Minister of Culture stressed during the meeting the need to support Iraq cultural and civilization issues in the international community , organizations and international conferences, and work hard to save its legacy and cultural heritage in history, noting the legacy of Iraq is a humanitarian and World Heritage not a local matter.

Roandzi stressed on the importance of supporting Iraq and help in returning its stolen and looted historic property, through coordination between Iraq , countries and relevant organizations.

The Minister of Culture called to support the joint Iraqi – Italian decision project which will be submitted in the United Nations, which includes that the United Nations issue a practical decision and apply it to protect Iraq’s archaeological sites, by sending troops to protect its effects, as it happens in conflicts, it is scheduled to attend the meeting by leaders of all countries of the world not on the level of ministers of culture only.

The statement concluded that the two sides discussed the Iraqi and Dutch possibility of Iraq’s participation in an annual exhibition held in the Netherlands, as the Netherlands wants the participation of Iraq in the exhibition backed by of the world museums . a number of protocols to train Iraqi cadres will be signed in addition to the support of the Iraqi National Museum

shafaaq.com

Iran’s Army ground forces started drill on Nov. 17 morning in the northeastern Khorasan region, the State IRINN TV reported.

Infantry, armored and artillery units as well as drones, helicopters and fighters are involved in the drill dubbed “Prophet Mohammad 3.”

The drill includes heliborne and anti-heliborne operations as well as modern war tactics and rescue operations. The two-day drill is held with the aim of boosting preparation of the ground force units and their deterrence capacity.

Earlier Ahmad Reza Pourdastan, commander of Iran’s Army ground forces said that Iran held three drills and five technical drills last year. The official said at the time that Iran is facing new threats, mentioning proxy wars and terrorist groups.

Tehran regularly announces military advances that cannot be independently verified. Iranian media outlets report that Iran has made great achievements in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing essential military equipment and systems in recent years.

Since 1992, Iran has manufactured its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles, radars, boats, submarines and fighter planes.

trend.az