British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Wednesday that Russia's continued focus on targeting most of its air strikes in Syria against opposition forces rather than Islamic State was helping the militants advance.

• December 16, 2015

Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad in western Syria denied receiving any support from the Russian air force, saying that on the contrary it continued to bomb them and rejecting comments by a top Russian general on Monday.

• December 15, 2015

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will use talks in Moscow on Tuesday to try to narrow differences with Russian leader Vladimir Putin over the role of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in any political transition, a senior State Department official said on Monday.

• December 14, 2015

President Vladimir Putin said on Friday Russia is supporting the opposition Free Syrian Army, providing it with air cover, arms and ammunition in joint operations with Syrian troops against Islamist militants.

• December 12, 2015

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad declared on Friday that he would not negotiate with armed groups, appearing to scupper peace talks that Russia and the United States hope to bring about next month.

• December 11, 2015

Moscow has rejected accusations by Turkey that Russia has been conducting ethnic cleansing operations in Syria against opponents of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

• December 10, 2015

Turkey has carried out new air raids on suspected Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.

• December 9, 2015

Russia says it has for the first time struck Islamic State targets in Syria with missiles fired from a submarine.

• December 8, 2015