Iraqi insurgency

Britain and Turkey are working "as closely as possible" to stop foreign fighters joining Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Dec. 10.

"We are fighting a common enemy, extremist terrorism," Cameron told a joint news conference in Ankara with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoğlu.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi appealed to U.S. Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel on Dec. 9 for more air raids from Western warplanes and more arms to take on the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived in Baghdad on Dec. 9 as the United States expands its presence in the fight against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants four months after starting a campaign of air strikes in Iraq.
   

"We will not be cowed by these sick terrorists," said British Prime Minister David Cameron after Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) produced a grisly video of the mass beheading of Syrian captives by foreign jihadis who allegedly included British fighters. As if the purpose of terrorist attacks in Western countries was to cow and intimidate them.

Canada on Dec. 8 joined Britain in closing its embassy in Cairo to the public for security reasons, with neither country providing details about any specific threat.
      
The move comes amid increasing attacks by Islamist militants in Egypt and calls from the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) for attacks on Western targets.
      

A 20-year-old German man was sentenced to 3 years and 9 months in prison on Dec. 5 after he admitted joining Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants in Syria, in the first trial in Germany of a home-grown jihadi accused of membership of the insurgent group.

Lebanese authorities are holding a daughter and an ex-wife of the head of the Islamic State in IRaq and the Levant (ISIL), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the interior minister said.

It was initially reported that a wife and son of the self-proclaimed "caliph" had been arrested last month.

Washington has asserted it is “premature” to say they are close to making a decision on the no-fly zone idea pushed by Ankara, contradicting the top Turkish diplomat’s words that signaled progress in narrowing the differences of views on the matter.

BRUSSELS - Serbia has listed its citizens who joined the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and it is ready to contribute to the global fight against terrorism, Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic stated in Brussels on Wednesday.

Authorities "know identity of those fighting for ISIL"

BRUSSELS -- Serbia has a list of its citizens who joined the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and is ready to contribute to the global fight against terrorism.

This is what Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic said in Brussels on Wednesday.