Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday criticized delays in the U.S.-led coalition's offensive against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, as extremists pressed ahead with an offensive against Syrian government forces. The extremist group said it was a reprisal for Turkey's campaign to dislodge the militants from the northern Syrian town of al-Bab. Turkish troops rolled over the border in August to help Syrian opposition forces battle IS and halt the advance of U.S.-backed Syrian-Kurdish fighters, who are also fighting the extremists. Meanwhile, in Syria's eastern city of Deir el-Zour, fighting between Syrian government forces and IS militants continued for the fourth day on Tuesday. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 122 people have been killed in and around the city, including 27 civilians.

Source: Egypt Independent January 17, 2017 14:56 UTC