ISIL affiliate in Sinai to lane for Russian plane disaster?
“Sinai Province” is an ISIL group operating in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula which is not under Cairo’s writ. Bedouin groups and al Qaeda groups also operate there. The military coup that ousted the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 and drove the MB underground has spawned splinter groups, some of which have gone to Libya, others to Sinai. These splinter groups may have joined ISIl and/or al Qaeda.
Russian airstrikes in Damascus
Rebel groups have long operated in and near the Syrian capital. Russian aircraft are hitting them hard, with signifiant civilian casualties. World opinion seems more muted as compared to similar US airstrikes.